Teenage Wildlife
by Kenophobia
Summary: Claire's life takes a different turn when she meets a stranger who helps her come to terms with her past, but who is he really and what dangerous secrets might he be keeping from her?
1. Risky Business

Castiel smiles softly to himself as Claire walks to the bathroom, the evening is going well. He had been afraid that Claire would never allow him into her life, allow him to help her, but she had agreed to staying together surprisingly easily. As he waits for her to return, Castiel spends several minutes musing on what exactly she meant when she told him to get "stuff for the road" before recalling how Dean often purchased unhealthy snacks and a magazine when embarking on his own road trips. Castiel selects some items that seem appropriate, choosing a magazine quite different from what Dean would have bought, and proceeds to the cash register. It is only when he reaches inside of his coat for his wallet that he realizes things haven't been going as well as he thought. He rushes out of the restaurant just in time to see Claire get into an unknown silver vehicle and drive away. Castiel stands in place, confused by the teenager's behaviour. She was acting as though she was running away from something, but surely, she must understand that Castiel intended her no harm. Lately, he has often heard Sam complain about the moodiness of teenagers, perhaps this is a manifestation of that?

Castiel reaches for his cellphone and selects the first number from his contact list. He hears the phone on the other end ring a few times before someone picks up.

"Hey Cas, what's up?" Dean askes.

"I need your help with something."

"Really? Does that mean that you aren't siding with Sam, on this whole "you need to stay out of trouble right now" thing?"

"Well, this isn't exactly a hunt" Castiel prefaces. "In fact, I think it might be something you're currently uniquely qualified for."

* * *

Claire walks into the gas station convenience store, a black hoodie pulled up over her blonde hair. She can do this, she knows she can. Randy needs her, and he has given her so much, taken her in when she ran from the group home, and given her a home and a family. Now it was all being threatened by people looking to collect on Randy's debts. They needed money, and fast. Her new family was counting on her to get this done.

Still, her fingers shake as she pulls out the gun, checking that it's loaded properly for the hundredth time, psyching herself up for the next step. Finally, forcing her feet to move she looks up at the sales counter and steps forward with resolve. That resolve dies as suddenly as it came when she accidentally makes eye contact with a boy who a moment before had seemed engrossed by the store's selection of jerky. He is her age, maybe a little younger, and he stares at her, eyes filled with shock.

Under the boy's gaze, Claire suddenly realizes how she must look, wearing all black and carrying a gun, she probably looks unhinged enough to start shooting any second. Claire and the boy stare at each other for a long moment. His surprise fades into something more questioning and if Claire didn't know better she would almost think that he was daring her to go through with it. But she doesn't. Barely realizing what she's doing she takes a step backwards. This single movement is enough to break her out of her panicked indecision and soon she is running out of the store, the bell jingling behind her.

* * *

Claire sits on the curb outside the store, slumped over with her head in her lap. After everything Randy has done for her, she can't even bring herself to do this one thing for him. She only gets more frustrated with herself as she feels tears well up in her eyes, she isn't a child, she can do this. Steeling herself to get up and go back in, she stops as she hears the sound of shuffling sneaker-clad feet as someone sits down beside her on the curb.

"Hey, you okay?"

She looks up to see the boy from the store looking at her with a concern, apparently now completely unafraid of her. She blinks at him, trying to clear the tears from her eyes. "Don't you think you should be staying away from the crazy lady with the gun?"

He grunts in amusement. "Well you don't seem all that crazy to me, just surprised me is all, and it ain't like I never stole anything from a Gas'N'Sip before" he says pulling a stolen pack of Twizzlers out of his pocket as evidence, "never used a gun for it though."

"Yeah, well, desperate times" she says weakly.

"Must be pretty desperate to risk a record like that. Even if you're underage, the cops don't just let something like armed robbery go." He rips open the package and offers her a Twizzler.

"Yeah" Claire mumbles taking one and biting off the end. They sit together for a minute, chewing on stolen candy, neither one of them speaking, until a new idea comes to her. Even if she hasn't got the money, she has the gun, maybe she can still help Randy. "I've go to go" she says.

"Okay" the boy shrugs, "well it was nice talking with you, not crazy lady."

She glances back at him. "It's Claire."

"Daniel" he replies with a smile.

Claire takes off, she doesn't look back behind her as Daniel pulls out his cell phone and makes a call.

* * *

Claire's feet pound against the sidewalk as she runs home, one hand still wrapped around the gun in the front of her hoodie. She's almost made it home when she hears the single whoop of a police siren as a cop car pulls up to the curb in front of her. Thinking fast, Claire tosses the gun into the bushes as unobtrusively as she can. With any luck, the officer will be too busy parking to notice.

"Claire," the officer said closing the door of his car with a thunk and walking around to stand in front of her, "I heard you'd made a run for it again."

Great, it was the same asshole who had caught her earlier this week. It was like he was out to get her or something, but how had he found her so easily? She usually managed to evade patrols for several weeks before getting dragged back into the group home. And why did it have to be now of all times?

"Well, you know the drill" he says, grabbing her by the arm and shoving her forcefully into the car.

Half an hour later, Claire is back in the group home's isolation room kicking the door in frustration.


	2. Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Claire doesn't try to get away from the group home again for a long time after that. Partly because they keep such a close eye on her, but mostly because this time she truly has nowhere else to go. She'd heard about what had happened to Randy after she was caught and he isn't expected to leave the hospital anytime soon, if ever. If Claire is honest with herself, it scares her, she likes to consider herself hardened, aware of so much more of the world than most people are, but sometimes even she forgets the violence that simple humans were capable of. It makes her want to curl up into herself and ignore everything else. She's lost her family, again, and the rest of the world could go screw itself.

Ironically, it's this passing passivity, brought on by grief, that finally convinces the group home's counselors that she's ready to rejoin the world. And thus, Claire finds herself back in a place she's probably spent less than six months in, on and off, over the last three years, a place she'd hoped never to see again: high school.

* * *

Her first day back at school, Claire walks out of the building's side door, backpack slung over one shoulder and starts shuffling towards the back football field. Sure, that's where the smokers and the stoners went to hang out at lunch and she had never been dumb enough to pick up either habit, no matter how much everyone seemed to expect her to, but at least there's less noise there than in the cafeteria where most people would be. She kicks an empty coke can across the yellowed grass wondering how best to avoid talking to anyone of the rest of the day. Probably safest to just skip she decides, turning to head off property.

"Hey."

Claire looks up in surprise to see a boy leaning against the side of the building. She'd walked past him without even realizing it, but now that she looks at him, he seems vaguely familiar.

"Claire wasn't it?" he asks.

It's the boy from the store she suddenly realizes, she's almost forgotten about him over the last few weeks. "Yeah, um, I'm sorry I don't remember … "

"Daniel, and don't worry about it. It looked like you were having a stressful night."

"Right" she says awkwardly. She hadn't really expected to see Daniel again after that night for some reason, but now that she thinks about it, there is only one high school in Pontiac, it makes sense that he goes here.

"So, you're pulling a Ferris Bueller?"

"Who?"

The look he gives her is more appalled than it was when she basically pulled a gun on him.

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It's a movie. You've really never heard of it?"

"I haven't. When did it come out?"

"The eighties."

"Well, that explains it then. I don't watch old people movies." The look on his face is so dismayed that Claire couldn't help laughing a little.

Daniel smiles back and shrugs, "Well, I guess some people just have no appreciation for culture. Seriously though, you've got to let me show it to you sometime."

Claire stops smiling and suddenly things are back to being awkward again. "Look Daniel, that's nice of you and all but I'm really not the type of teenager that's into Friday night date night."

He looks genuinely surprised. "What? No, that's not what I …." He flusters. "I mean the age gap alone…"

"Age gap?" she asks. "Just how old are you?"

"fifteen" he says hesitantly.

"I'm seventeen, that's not that much of a gap" she says confused. Sure, it would be pretty uncool for a senior like her to go out with a sophomore, if she were the kind of girl to care about that sort of thing, but his reaction is still pretty weird. Daniel's looking slightly lost now and she takes pity on him. "Well, maybe I could let you show it to me sometime in that case." After all, its not like she has a particularly busy social schedule.

He brightens a little. "Yeah, sometime" he says as Claire waves over her shoulder and takes off down the road.

* * *

She doesn't see him again for a while after that. Being two years apart, they aren't in any of the same classes and though she keeps an eye out for him at lunch, Claire begins to suspect that Daniel misses even more school than she does.

Then one day he seems to simply appear out of nowhere again, pulling her aside on the way to class.

"Hey, where you headed?" he asks casually.

"English?"

"No, you're not, you owe me a movie." He pulls a DVD part way out of his jacket, letting her get a glimpse of it before tucking it back in like it's some kind of serious contraband. "Follow me."

Curious, she trails along behind him as they weave their way through the streams of students all headed dutifully off to class. He leads her into the band room, which is apparently empty this period, and slumps down against the wall, opening his backpack to pull out a laptop.

"Really, you want me to watch a movie with you here? When we're both supposed to be in class?"

"It's in the spirit of the movie to watch it while skipping class. Besides, you can't really expect me to believe you'd rather be in English."

"You got me there."

Ninety minutes of run time later, the two of them rejoin the tide of teenagers just as they are getting out of the last class of the day.

"Well, it was okay I guess" Claire said, "but kind of weird."

"Weird? It's a classic, and that car." Daniel seems to practically salivates at the thought of the 1960's Ferrari.

"But seriously, what was up with that totally random musical scene? Was that a thing in the eighties or something?"

"Right, cause that's so much worse than Highschool Musical or whatever it is you people watch these days."

She can't help laughing at him again. "You sound like such as old person, teenagers don't actually watch that, it's for, like, twelve-year-olds or something."

"Oh." He pauses to consider that before turning to grin at her again. "So, you ever seen The Breakfast Club?"


	3. Batman

Meeting up with Daniel and skipping class to watch movies becomes a regular thing for Claire after that. They vary up the day and time, so they don't always miss the same class. She may end up missing Earth Sciences occasionally but at least Claire is getting a thorough education in 80's movies. Sure, a few phone calls go through to the group home about her absences, but so far, she is passing all of her classes for the semester and the overworked counsellors have far worse transgressions to worry about.

At some point, Claire realises that Daniel is probably the closest thing she has had to a friend since Randy was attacked and Dustin took off. This shouldn't be that strange, but with it comes the double realization that she doesn't really know anything about him. He likes eighties movies, sometimes talks like an old person, and misses a lot of school, that's about it. Despite her initial concern that Daniel was interested in dating her, he has never made the least effort to try to change the terms of their odd relationship. It isn't until they've known each other for months (an eternity to a teenager), that they even have an actual conversation about their lives outside of school.

It's a rainy Thursday afternoon and Claire is holed up with Daniel in their secret band room hide out, the credits for the 1989 Batman are rolling on screen and Claire says, "why is it that all superheroes have dead parents?". She immediately wonders how she could have said something so angsty and tries to pass it off as a joke by forcing herself into a giggle that probably just sounds nervous and pathetic. Daniel turns and looks at her, his green eyes refreshingly lacking in pity.

"Because people with perfect two parent families imagine it must be romantic or some shit."

"Romantic? It's romantic to lose a parent when you're just a child, then to have the other suddenly become an entirely different person on you. My mother, she never got over losing Dad, she became completely obsessed with . . . it., travelling around the country looking for clues, and then I lost her too. My life was destroyed by things normal people can't even . . ." She manages to stop her outburst before she says something that Daniel would find completely insane. She certainly didn't mean to start a rant over a stupid superhero movie, but It's been so long since she's let herself feel anything that it had been hard to stop once she started.

She expects Daniel to run scared from the crazy lady, like he should have the first night they met, but instead he puts his arm around her shoulders and her head naturally drops to his shoulder. "My mother died when I was four" he almost whispers, "my Dad, well, I lost him a few years back too."

"I've never seen you around the group home" Claire probes, suddenly wanting to know more about this boy she's been spending so much time with.

He shrugs the shoulder that she isn't leaning against. "I live with my uncle, Sam."

She snickers against his hoodie, "you have an actual Uncle Sam?"

He chuckles "yeah, I guess I do. He doesn't wear a top hat though."

The two of them hold each other close as they dissolve into quiet, desperate laughter.

* * *

Sam looks up as he hears the squeal of the bunker door being pulled open. As Dean steps through the door, Sam has to suppress the knee jerk reaction of surprise that he still has every time he sees his brother looking as he now does.

"Hey Sam" Dean says gruffly, trying to make his voice sound lower, "how was the hunt?"

"Five less vampires in the world" Sam replies.

Dean grunts and Sam smiles fondly, happy to see his brother again even if he does look a bit younger than usual. Ever since Cas called a few months back, desperate to find a way to keep an eye on Claire, Dean's been driving back and forth between Pontiac and Lebanon with his newly forged State of Kansas provisional driver's licence. It had taken some convincing to get Dean to agree to attend high school again, even part time, but Dean's boredom combined with Cas's puppy dog eyes had eventually gotten the job done.

When Dean had first made the decision to remain as a teenager in order to avoid the effects of the Mark of Cain, there had been a difficult adjustment period for both of them. Dean had insisted vehemently that he had hunted the first time he had been this age and that he could keep hunting now. Sam on the other hand, newly thrust into the roll of protective older brother that Dean had shouldered for decades, wanted his brother to take a break from hunting, maybe even give some normal teenage experiences a try. In the end, Sam and Cas had managed to convince Dean that Claire needed protecting and so Sam had gotten his way, mostly. Dean still insisted on joining Sam on some of his more straightforward hunts, so as not to fall completely out of practice. They compromised with the occasional salt and burn and over the months a new equilibrium was reached. Maybe if he's lucky, Sam muses, he'll even be able to convince Dean to stay in school long enough to graduate this time.

Sam is shaken from his thoughts as Dean plunks himself down in the chair next to him and immediately puts his feet up on the table.

"How's school going? Do I get to see your report card soon?"

"Shut up Sam. I'll have you know that I'm passing just fine since I convinced them to let me drop Spanish and take online Latin for my language credit"

"And how's Claire doing?"

"I think she's gonna be just fine."


	4. 48 Hrs

Claire feels the tug on her arm as she heads to math and turns around already knowing who she will find. She's gotten used to his irregularly spaced interruptions of her normal class schedule, but this time Daniel looks unusually excited as he leads her to their usual spot, and when he gets there, he doesn't pull a new DVD out of his bag, but instead, grabs her shoulders and leans conspiratorially. "Claire, look don't get mad okay?" And just like that her guard is up. "but after what you told me the other day about your Mom being missing, I was doing some thinking."

Claire thinks back to the hour a couple weeks ago that she'd spent with her head leaning against Daniel's skinny shoulder as they comforted each other in the gloom of the unused classroom. She'd been in a rare talking mood and she remembers telling him that her mother, unlike her father, was not in fact dead, but had been missing for the last couple years.

"My uncle, he's like a private investigator, right?" Daniel is still talking. "He taught me everything he knows and, well, I want to help you find her."

It takes Claire a moment to digest Daniel's almost breathless speech and when she has she frowns in consideration. It's true that she has been thinking about trying to track down her mother recently, ever since a box of her mother's things finally made it to her in the mail, and if Daniel is telling the truth then it would be nice to have someone who knows what they're doing. But what if there's something not natural about her mother's disappearance? Daniel is a nice guy and she really doesn't want him to get caught up in her freaky shit.

"No thanks" she says shrugging off his hands and trying not to watch as the light behind his eyes dims just a little bit. "I'm not really that interested in finding my mom" she lies.

"Bullshit, of course you are" he says angrily. "Look, my family was never exactly The Brady Bunch, but if one of my parent's was missing, I'd never stop looking."

She smiles a little at his characteristically old-timey reference. Maybe it would be okay to let him point her in the right direction. "Okay, I guess it wouldn't hurt to do a little digging. At the very least, it would be nice to now why exactly she decided to ditch me."

He lights up again. "You wouldn't happen to have an old journal or something that your mom left, behind would you?" He smiles like there's a joke in the question that she's not supposed to get.

"Um, actually I do. It's a lot of weirdo obsessive ranting mostly."

"Really? He almost chokes but then turns it into his trademark grin. "Well, then I guess that's where we start."

* * *

Claire brings the journal to school the next day and for the first time it's her that seeks out Daniel. The two of them spend first period with their heads together pouring over the old book filled with her mother's cramped handwriting.

"Wow, your mother is really religious" Daniel comments.

"Umm, yeah" Claire replies awkwardly.

Claire might have taken weeks combing through her mother's distraught ramblings by herself, but Daniel makes quick work of it, jotting down a list of names, people her mother had contacted, or was planning to contact for help in her doomed search for Claire's father. By the time they're done, the school day is almost over and the list is eight names long.

"Okay" Daniel says, shoving the list in his pocket. "I'll run these through my uncle's databases and let you know what I find." Claire doesn't like handing the task over to someone else, but she knows that if she's really want's to do this it would be stupid not to make use of every resource.

* * *

The next day, Claire doesn't even start walking to class, she heads straight to their meeting spot and finds Daniel there waiting for her.

"I ran the names" he says, obviously as eager she is. "Two are dead, three are in jail. I've got addresses for the other three, so I figure we run them down, one at a time, see if they know anything."

Claire is impressed, and a little daunted that the majority of the people her mother was talking to are dead or in prison. She looks at the new list that he presents to her, considerably shorter and now with home addresses scrawled next to the names.

"I figured we could start with this guy Ed Baker, he's the only one we know she met with for sure, the other two were just maybes."

"Yeah" Claire agrees distracted by the address next to the third name on the list: Ronnie Cartwright. It's in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the last place her mom sent her a postcard from, a fact she had purposefully neglected to tell Daniel.

"So, what do you think? St. Louis is only three hours from here; we could drive down tomorrow and check it out."

"Tomorrow? No, I can't tomorrow. I have a math test."

"A math test?" Daniel echoes, clearly having trouble with the concept of Claire as academically conscientious.

"Yeah, some of us do try to show up to class occasionally, you know. This has waited three years already, it can wait until the weekend."

"Okay, fine. This weekend then. It'll be great to get out of this dump and finally have something to do." He looks so eager that Claire almost feels guilty for lying to him.

* * *

Claire doesn't have a car, so she has to take a bus to Tulsa. It's slow and smelly, but at least now she's on her way. She may have been reluctant to start this whole process when Daniel first suggested it, but now that she's begun, Claire pursues the mission enthusiastically. For the first time in a months, she's on her own again, making her own decisions, and it feels good. She manages to find a bus leaving that night, but the whole trip takes almost 18 hours, so by the time she arrives the in Tulsa, drops her bag at a motel, and gets to the address she memorized from Daniel's list, its almost six o'clock the next day.

She marches up to the slightly seedy looking house, not allowing enough time for her to talk herself out of it and rings the doorbell. She waits. Nobody comes. She tries knocking, still nothing. She knocks again, harder this time, pounding on the door.

"You won't find him there" a voice suddenly cuts through her increasing frustration. Claire turns around to find a woman iron grey hair and a small dog tucked under her arm, standing on the lawn next door.

"What?"

"That no good alcoholic is always at the pub this time of night. So, you can stop your commotion now, you're upsetting Henry" the woman replies, as she sets her dog, Henry presumably, on her perfectly green lawn.

"Which pub?" she asks breathlessly.

"Susie's. About ten blocks east here, a place a young woman really shouldn't go." She starts to say something else in her reedy, officious voice, but Claire is already gone.

* * *

From the neighbor's directions, Claire manages to locate the bar and even successfully gets inside the bar with her fake ID. The bartender points out her target sitting in the corner, but when she confronts him, Ronnie Cartwright refuses to talk to her. Claire isn't about to let him get away that easily. She follows him out of the bar, reaching out to grab to touch his slouched over shoulders as he begins his march home. He spins around looking scared.

"I told you to stay the hell away from me!"

"You were the last person to speak to my mom. I need to find her."

"I don't know Amelia Novak, you got it?"

"I never told you her last name." He's messed up now and they both know it. He tries to make a run for it but Claire grabs his arm. "Wait!" she yells. He shoves her and she's thrown back, her head almost slamming into the side of dumpster, but a pair of strong arms grab her just in time. Claire looks up into painfully familiar blue eyes. "Castiel?"

"Hi Claire."

As she regains her balance, two more figures step into view. One of them is exceptionally tall and she recognizes him distantly from the time the Winchesters visited her home, the time she lost her father. The other is considerably shorter, and she recognizes him from school.

"Daniel?"


	5. Caddyshack

She can't stop staring. Daniel and Castiel are here together? She associated the two of them with completely different parts of her life. Castiel was the freaky parts, the scary things from her past that she couldn't talk about with anyone. Daniel, over the last few months had come to represent in her mind her new mundane life, her normal life, the life that was almost starting to feel good. To see the two of them in the same place was something akin to seeing a dog playing poker. It just didn't make any sense.

"What are you doing here?" she exclaims, not sure which of them she's talking to.

It's Castiel who answers. "We came to make sure you're safe, you didn't show up to school today."

"I didn't show up to school? I don't show up to school all the time. Why the hell should you care?"

"Well, we got a call from De . . . " Castiel coughs, "from your friend Daniel here, and he thought you might be up to something dangerous."

She still doesn't completely understand what's going on, but Claire knows that someone here is lying to her. She whirls on Daniel and glares him down. "Who are you?"

"He's umm, he's a friend of a friend who . . ." Castiel tries to answer.

"It's okay Cas" Daniel finally speaks up. "I think my cover is officially blown." He's about the same height as Claire so he's as right at eye level as he swallows nervously. "My name isn't Daniel. It's Dean. Dean Winchester."

She gawks at him, trying to make sense of his words. Distantly she's aware of Ronnie Cartwright squirming in the firm grip of Sam Winchester. Adult Sam Winchester. Because the Winchesters are adults, and not teenagers, and a big part of the reason why her life went down the crapper six years ago. Finally, her overwhelmed brain manages to connect to her mouth and she eloquently bursts out: "what the fuck?"

"Cas was worried about you okay? He just asked me to check in on you now and then."

"Oh, I get the part where you're a lying, dirtbag who likes to stalk teenage girls. What I don't get is how last time we met, I was six years younger and you were fifteen years older."

"A witch" Daniel, no Dean says, looking at her desperately. "There was this hunt a few months back with a witch who liked to turn people into kids before she ate them. She got me with this spell and then we . . ."

"Um, guys" interrupts the other Winchester brother from where he's holding a struggling Ronnie against the wall. "Do you think we could pick this again later?"

Claire tears her attention away from the melodrama playing out between her and Castiel and Dean. She has a mission, that's what she needs to focus on right now. She stalks over to a very scared looking Ronnie Cartwright and refocuses her anger on him. "Amelia Novak, where is she?"

"Okay. Okay. I met Amelia, but she was the last one, I swear."

"The last one of what?" Castiel asks.

"I worked for a faith healer. He was the real deal. Hey, I was blind. He healed me."

"Give us a name" Claire practically snarls at him. "Now."

"Peter Holloway. After he gave me my sight back, well, he made me work for him as payment. I recruited candidates. He had a specific type: young, but lost, wouldn't be missed."

"And Amelia was one of these candidates?"

"Some people, he healed, but others, he . . ." Ronnie ducks his head. "Look, I saw him one night, it looked like he was, I don't know how to describe it, but he was . . . He'd tied one of them up and he was cutting on them. Look, after that, I was done. Okay? I quit. I haven't heard from Holloway since."

The three men share a glance full of silent communication and Sam eases up on Ronnie, who slips free from the wall and immediately takes off down the alleyway.

"That's it? You're just letting him go?" Claire exclaims.

"He told us what he knows." Dean answers. "And he's human. What else do you want us to do with him?"

Claire glares daggers at him. "Then now what?"

"We find Peter Holloway."

* * *

An hour later the four of them are holed up in Claire's motel room and she's debating with herself whether it would be best to ditch the others or keep them around for the sake of the mission. She's starting to lean towards the former when Sam speaks up.

"I got something. According to county records, Holloway owns a farmhouse about 30 or 40 miles from here, so I cross-referenced it with Amelia's credit card receipts. She was definitely in the area."

Looks like it might be worth putting up with them for a while longer after all. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go."

"Claire" says Castiel, "you are not going out there."

"She's my mother."

"That house could be empty, and it could be a trap. It's too dangerous. I can't let anything happen to you."

"Anything else, you mean. I'm not a child Castiel. I didn't need a babysitter" she gestures at Dean, "and I don't need you to protect me now."

"Claire, you're not going" Dean finally speaks up.

"And you're not either Dean" says Sam.

"What?"

"This is too dangerous. We agreed you could go on routine hunts only, the kind of thing we would have dealt with the first time you were that age, but faith healer points to Angel, and that's too much. Besides, someone should stay with Claire."

"I don't need a babysitter" she reiterates angrily.

Dean, however, seems to see that Sam and Castiel are unwavering. "Alright, fine, but if anything happens . . .

"Yeah, we'll call you. No fighting" Castiel says over his shoulder as he and Sam head out the door.

* * *

Claire wants to take off and go find Holloway herself, but she doesn't have a car and the farmhouse isn't anywhere near any bus routes. Plus, even if should could find and afford a cab willing to drive her 30 miles outside of town in the middle of the night, she'd also have to find a way to ditch Dean. So, much to her consternation, she now finds herself not hunting down whoever took her mother, but in the middle of a mini-golf course with the person she thought was her friend and turned out to be spying on her.

"Could this be any lamer" she complains.

"Shh, you'll ruin my concentration." Dean taps the ball with his club and manages to bounce it off a rock into the hole. "It's in the hole! It's in the hole!" he yells way to excitedly before looking at her in disappointment. "Bill Murray?" She roles her eyes at him. "Caddyshack. It's a classic."

"Never seen it. Not a fan."

"Well, we'll have to watch that next then."

She snorts at him in disdain. "You really think that things are just going to go back to the way they were. You've been lying to me for months. After this is over, I hope I never see you again."

"Claire look, when Cas first suggested the idea, I wasn't that thrilled about it either, but he was really worried about you, especially after what happened to that guy you were living with. You wouldn't talk to him, so he asked me to check in on you, and Sam's been such a control freak since the spell that I was pretty desperate for anything to do. It wasn't supposed to go on for as long as it did, but I, well I liked spending time with you."

"You liked spending time with me? What, am I supposed to be flattered now? Like that just makes lying to me and spying on me totally okay?"

"No. Claire, I'm sorry."

"Whatever." She turns her eyes back to the game mostly to give herself something else to focus on. Whacking her golf ball, she's absurdly satisfied when it goes straight into the hole. "Did you, did you see that?" she quotes. "Did that go in the hole? I wasn't watching. Did the ball go in the hole?"

"Happy Gilmore. Well played."

"Oh, so you have seen something made after 1989, good to know."

They continue playing in silence that if not exactly friendly is at least slightly less tense. They're getting near the last hole when an alarm goes off on Dean's cell. He glances at it. "Oh shit."

"What happened?"

"Come on" he says, jogging back across the parking lot to the motel."

"So are you going to tell me what's going on now?" Claire says flopping down on the motel bed as Dean types away on the laptop.

"I got an alert from the local P.D. Ronnie's body was just found outside of Susie's bar."

"He's dead? But how?"

"I don't know. Normally I'd pretend to be a fed and go investigate the crime scene, but obviously I can't do that looking like this." Dean pulls out his cell phone and selects the first contact, continuing to talk as he does. "Right now, it's safest to assume that the person who killed Ronnie is this Holloway guy, and if he talked to Ronnie at all, he knows we're looking for him."

"Which means he's expecting us. Castiel and Sam are headed into a trap." She can hear ringing on the other end of Dean's cell, it goes on for an ominously long time, nobody picking up.

"Exactly. And now they're not answering their phones."


	6. Angel Heart

Apparently, Dean knows how to hotwire cars because it isn't long before he and Claire are driving towards Holloway's address.

"Can't you drive any faster? Who cares if we're speeding if we've already stolen a car."

"That's exactly why we don't want to speed too much. Believe me, getting arrested and having to escape from the cops is not going to get us there any faster."

"Well how are we supposed to catch up with the others if you keep driving like an old person?"

"We can't catch up with them, they left too far ahead of us. The best we can hope for is to get there soon enough to provide back-up."

Claire wants to be frustrated with him, but she can't help being a little impressed with his ability to stay calm. She supposes you develop that when you've been getting into fights with monsters for as long as the Winchesters have. Her own heart is racing with a mixture of fear and excitement, she had been pleasantly surprised earlier when not only had Dean not tried to make her stay behind but had actually given her a gun. She curled her hand around it now, promising herself that things would go differently from the last time she held one. There was no chickening out this time, she's going to find her mother and see this through.

* * *

When they finally arrive at the old, neglected farm, Dean pulls up behind the Winchester's old black car and they both start forwards with their guns raised, Dean staying protectively a few steps ahead.

"Alright let's stick together. First the barn, then the house. If you have to shoot, aim for the chest. It won't drop an angel but it will slow him down. Got it?"

She nods solemnly. "Yeah."

They enter the barn and Claire is proud of herself for not freaking out. She only experiences a momentary jolt when they hear footsteps from around the corner of the worn-down wooden wall. She raises her gun getting ready to fire and sees Dean doing the same thing, but when they move forward, it's only Castiel. He gives her a look of pity that she takes to mean that he's found something and it's all the encouragement she needs to rush forward.

She enters the main space of the barn and finds a scene out of a slasher film. The entire space is filled with old metal cots, each one containing a figure in dirty clothes, the exposed parts of their bodies covered in lacerations in various stages of healing, all of them unconscious. All except one. Her mother sits on a cot near the far wall, her long blond hair straggly and covered in grime. Claire runs to her.

"Claire. I'm so sorry. Baby, I'm so sorry" her mother sobs, trying to stand. And just like that every thought Claire had of being angry with her mother is gone. When her mother throws her arms around her, Claire's brain is flooded by relief at once again being in the supportive embrace of a parent, a place all children instinctively associate with safety, even once they learn better.

When the two finally separate, her mother sinking back onto the cot, Claire feels Dean's hand on her shoulder.

"Claire, listen to me. Stay here, okay? Do not move. I need to go find Sam."

"Okay. Thank you" she says as she puts her hand on his arm. "Thank you both."

Castiel spares her one last worried glance before he and Dean disappear out of the barn.

* * *

As they head towards the house, Dean worries that his friend will try to tell him to hang back with the others, but even Cas seems to realize how futile that would be and only grimaces slightly as the now teenage hunter gently pushes open the front door with the tip of his colt.

Dean hears floorboards creaking from the next room, but in the second fake out of the night, it turns out to only be Sam, ready to bash his head in with some kind of kitchen implement.

They both lower their weapons. "What the hell happened?" Dean asks.

"Listen, Holloway is a Grigori. A special kind of angel gone rogue, and with a big ass sword. He caught me, but I managed to slip the cuffs after he left."

"Grigori?" says Cas. "They were some the first angels on earth; it was an elite unit that went bad. But they're extinct. They were destroyed."

"Well, no, some survived. They've been hunting humans, making them create heavens in their minds, and feeding off them."

"Where is this abomination?" Cas growls.

"I don't know, I've looked everywhere, He must have left."

Dean meets Cas's eyes, both of them thinking the same thing, and without further hesitation they run back to the barn, Sam following close on their heels.

* * *

Claire waits nervously in the barn, her eyes roving back and forth between her mother and the door. She hopes the others are back soon; she knows she won't feel safe until the five of them are far away from this creepy place. She hears a groan sees her mom sinking back onto the cot in exhaustion.

"Mom. Mom, come on. You have to stay with me." Claire puts her arm around her mother's emaciated shoulders, propping her up. "Come on. It's going to be okay." She helps her mom hobble towards the door, tired of waiting.

"Thank you, sweetheart" her mom says struggling to drag her uncooperative feet across the straw strewn floor.

"You know there's no fixing her right?" A man in a dark suit suddenly appears from the shadows, moving to stand between them and their way out. Claire freezes and as she does, her mother slips from her grasp and slides weakly to the floor. Both hands now free, she pulls out the gun Dean gave her and with no hesitation shoots the stranger twice in the chest. The man, clearly not a man, looks mildly annoyed. Claire continues firing and is dismayed to hear a clicking sound that she knows must mean her gun is empty. Damn. She should have asked Dean how many bullets she had.

The man in the suit shakes his head like a disappointed school teacher. "You really think that's going to hurt an Angel of the LORD?" he walks towards her casually, some kind of silvery sword held out in front of him. She almost misses the moment when his movements change from slow and languorous to lightning quick as the silver blade streaks towards her stomach. She jerks back unable to get out of the way, but once again someone saves her, only this time it isn't Castiel.

Her mother is gasping, unable to breath around the sword in her chest. Claire can't understand how she was able to jump in front of her at the exact right (wrong) moment when a minute ago she couldn't even stand. The angel viciously jerks back his weapon and Claire catches her mother as they both fall to the barn floor.

"Mom! Mom?" she cries looking into her mother's empty eyes before glaring into the angel's almost as empty orbs. He moves forward, preparing to strike at her again.

"No!" Castiel races into the barn, coat flapping behind him and tackles the other angel from behind. Holloway falls to the floor under Castiel's weight, his sword flying out of his grasp and across the floor. The two angels fight it out and at first Holloway seems to gain the upper hand, but he's quickly put back down by a punch from Sam, who along with his brother, runs in right after Castiel. The Winchesters and Castiel are fighting three on one against the enemy angel but are still struggling especially after the Grigori somehow manages to take Castiel's angel blade from him. Heart thumping, Claire looks around for the forgotten sword and sees it lying a few feet away, still covered in her mother's blood. Filled with cold fury she goes to retrieve it, everyone else too engaged in the ongoing battle to notice her. As she lifts the sword in her hands, she see's Holloway about to try to stab Castiel with his own weapon and moving with brutal efficiency she rams the point of the sword through to back of the murderer's head. There's a sudden flare or blue-white light and Holloway drops to the ground.

Claire lets the heavy sword drop from her hand and crosses the room back to where her mother is lying. She may have just killed a powerful angel, but as she gathers her mother into her arms, sobbing into her unmoving chest, Claire has never felt more helpless. The three men stand back, respectfully silent. It might be hours or it might only be a few minutes before she feels a gentle hand on her shoulder and looks into Dean's soft green eyes. "Come on, Claire. It's time to go home."


	7. Stand By Me

Claire dozes in the back seat of the Winchester's Impala as it zips along a darkened highway, the first traces of dawn just starting to appear. She isn't normally able to fall asleep in cars, but after having one of the longest and worst days of her life, her body apparently decides to make an exception. She only jerks awake when someone slams a car door closed; apparently, they've arrived at their destination.

When Dean said they were going "home", Claire hadn't really thought about what he meant. She certainly didn't have a home. As soon as she turned 18 in a couple months, she was leaving her current residence in the group home and never looking back. She supposed it only made sense then, that he had been referring to his home, not hers.

What she really didn't expect though, was for his home to be underground, in the middle of nowhere, and have an entrance that looked kind of like a sewer tunnel. Still, she follows the others out of the car and waits patiently as Sam opens the large round door with some kind of odd-looking key. When she steps forward, she almost thinks she must still be asleep and dreaming because suddenly she seems to have been transported into a Harry Potter movie.

As she follows the others down an actual wrought iron staircase into an actual library, she gets the feeling that this place would be pretty amazing if she weren't too tired to appreciate it. As it is though, she simply follows blearily as she's led to an empty bedroom and left alone. She barely pauses to take off her boots before she drops like a stone into sleep.

* * *

Hours later, Claire awakens in an unfamiliar and somewhat dusty room feeling much less like a zombie than when she went to sleep. The lack of windows doesn't give her any clues about how long she has slept for, but a quick glance at her phone tells her it's mid afternoon of the same day she went to bed. She pokes her head outside the door and sees gratefully that someone has left her duffle bag sitting just outside the room for her. A few minutes later, freshly washed and in clean clothes, she decides to see if she can find anyone else around, or better yet, some food.

She follows the sound of voices to what appears to be a kitchen/dining room. Castiel, Sam, and Dean are all sitting around a large table, the latter two shoveling down a very late breakfast.

"Claire" says Castiel, noticing her first. "I am glad to see you awakened, Dean has made pancakes if you require sustenance."

"Yeah let me grab you some." Dean gets up from the table and pulls open a kitchen cupboard, stretching to reach the plates on the top shelf. He loads one up with pancakes for her and pushes it across the table. Claire can't help but be struck by the domestic scene, unsure whether to be angry or comforted that life is moving on so normally after the death of her mother. After a few moments' inaction, her stomach breaks her reverie, reminding her how hungry she is, and she reaches for the maple syrup.

She listens in as the other three calmly chat like the old friends they are. Sam is saying something about researching Grigori when Claire cuts him off. "So, what now?" she blurts out. All three of them stare at her for a moment.

"What do you mean Claire?" Castiel asks gently, like he's afraid she might try to attack him.

"Am I just supposed to go back to school like nothing happened? Because I don't think I can do that, I can't go back to living in that place with counselors constantly breathing down my neck, having to pretend everything's all great and normal."

Its Sam that answers. "Actually, we had an idea about that. We have this friend, Jody, she's a hunter, but she's also a registered foster parent. Since you're still a few months from eighteen, you can't leave the group home legally without people coming after you, unless someone agrees to foster you."

"I've stayed with foster families before" she says skeptically, "its never worked out."

"Jody's good people" Dean picks up. "She took in a girl we rescued from some vampires last year, and if you stayed with her you would have someone to talk to about those kinds of things."

"So, this is some kind of halfway house for wayward girls?"

"No, not at all, but she can give you a place to crash until you get back on your feet" says Sam.

"I guess I could give it a try, at least until I turn eighteen." It can't be worse than the group home and probably a lot easier to get away from, should it come to that.

"Great. I'll give her a call" says Sam.

* * *

Apparently, this Jody person agrees to take on the poor, troubled orphan and by evening there's a plan in place for Claire to take a taxi the next morning out to Sioux Falls, where Jody apparently lives. Sam and Dean had offered to let her stay longer but she hadn't seen the point. She's back in her room playing with her phone out of sheer boredom, when she hears a soft knock at her door.

"Yeah?" she calls out. Dean opens the door a crack and pokes his head in, he too seems to be afraid she might attack.

"Hey, I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Why? Its not your job to check up on me anymore."

He sighs dramatically and walks all the way in, closing the door behind him. "Claire, your mom just died. You don't have to be alone right now, you have people who care about you."

She sniffles a little, she'd been doing a pretty good job not thinking about it until this jerk brought it up again. "I'm okay. I mean, really I lost her a long time ago, you know? So, I'm okay."

"Sure." He shuffles in place a little and suddenly instead of being some badass hunter or traitorous spy, he's back to the awkward, overly sincere teen she's grown so fond of over the last few months.

"So, it must be pretty weird huh?" she purposefully changes the subject.

"What?"

"Being a teenager again."

"Yeah, it freaking sucks."

"You still owe me the whole story on that one."

"Yeah, I guess I do", he clenches his jaw. "Okay, come one, I've got something to show you."

Curious she follows him out of the room and down the hall. The room they enter is nearly identical to the one they just left, but obviously a lot more lived in. There are weapons hung on the walls and papers on the desk; It's Dean's room she realizes.

Dean walks over to the bed, gets down on his knees and pulls a locked iron box out from under it. She joins him on the floor as he pulls a key out of his pocket and undoes the padlock. There are two items inside; Claire has no idea what either of them are.

Dean pulls the first one out and holds it up for her inspection. It looks like a bit of rag tied with a string and it smells vaguely flowery. "This is a hex bag" Dean starts to explain. "Witches make them to contain spells. This one contains the spell that turned me into a teenager."

"So, if you have this hex bag, can't you undo the spell by destroying it or something?"

"No. Destroying it would make the spell permanent. If I wanted to undo it, all I would have to do is squeeze it." He puts the hex bag back in the box.

Claire is more confused than ever. "If you know how to undo the spell then why don't you?"

"Because of this" he says as he picks up the second item. It looks like some kind of really old bone, covered in teeth, and with a handle attached. "This is the First Blade. A demon called Crowley had it for a while, but we took it back from him, so he can't use it to make a deal with Cain."

"Who? What?"

He sighs. "Let me start over. The First Blade is a weapon, a very powerful weapon that can kill anything."

"Sounds useful."

"Yeah, but it can only be used by someone who has The Mark of Cain, which is essentially a curse that makes you more powerful and makes you able to use the blade, but also turns you into a psycho killing machine or eventually a demon."

"And this relates to you being fifteen how?"

"I had it, The Mark of Cain. The Cain from the Bible, he's still alive and he gave it to me, so I could kill this demon, which I did, but then it started making me go crazy, and wanting to kill people all the time. We tried to find a way to get rid of the mark, but we couldn't, until I had this spell cast on me and then bam, I'm back in my younger body and no more Mark of Cain.

"So, if you undo the spell that turned you into a teenager, you go back to being a kill happy sociopath?"

"Basically yeah."

"Wow. And I thought my life was complicated."

He smiles wryly as he relocks the box and shoves it under his bed.

* * *

The next morning, the Winchesters and Castiel stand with her in a parking lot inside the tiny town of Lebanon where they've ordered a cab to pick her up. The cab that's going to take her to this Jody person, and her supposed new home.

"Hey" says Dean. "I've got something for you." He hands her a wrapped package.

"What is this like a going away present or something?"

"Just open it."

She rips off the dollar store wrapping paper to find a copy of Caddyshack on DVD.

"Thanks" she says, "but has anyone ever told you that DVDs are pretty old-fashioned?"

'Shut up."

Underneath the DVD is something considerably more old-fashioned: a worn looking book titled The Enochian Myth.

"You're giving me homework?"

Dean lowers his voice. "Did you honestly think I didn't see you take that angel's sword, Claire? If you're serious about what that means, then you've got to do the homework. But you should know Claire, you've already gotten your revenge, you go down this path, our path, it's not a long life."

"I don't know, you seem pretty old."

"Thanks" he replies sarcastically.

"What about you? What are you going to do now?"

"Me? I don't know. I'll figure something out."

The cab pulls up just then and Sam and Castiel wander closer from where they had been talking.

"Take care of yourself Claire" Sam says as he clapping her on the shoulder.

"Thanks."

"Claire" Castiel starts uncertainly. If you need anything, ever, I just wanted you to know that …" She interrupts him with a hug. They hold each other for a few seconds before she disengages awkwardly and heads for the cab.

Dean opens the car door for her as she approaches. "Goodbye Claire."

"Goodbye Dean." As she slides into the back seat, she gives him a quick kiss on the cheek, surprising herself almost as much as she does him.

"Take care of Cas for me, will you?"

"Um, yeah, sure", he blinks at her.

She gives him one last half smile, as he closes the door for her and the taxi pulls away.


	8. Clue

Showing up at some strangers' home and introducing herself as their new permanent house guest is inevitably a somewhat awkward experience, but Jody is welcoming without being overbearing and even her foster daughter Alex seems like she'll be far from the worst person Claire's shared a foster home with.

Starting up at school again is predictably tedious. Now that she's been thrown back into the world of the supernatural again, grade 12 English is even more monotonous than usual, but with graduation just around the corner, at least she won't have to put up with it much longer. At Sioux Falls high, members of the senior class are required to meet at least once with the school guidance counselor to talk about what they're planning to do after graduation. Claire certainly has never had any college plans, or plans of any kind really, but even though she can't talk to the guidance counselor about it, for the first time, she knows what she wants to do with her life. She's going to be a hunter.

* * *

Okay, so maybe Claire doesn't exactly have a lot of experience with hunting, but, she figures, its not like there's some kind of formal training for it, she'll just figure it out as she goes along like everyone else does. She remembers what Dean said about doing her research, but that would have been a lot more helpful if he had told her where to research. Aside from the one book he gave her about angels, she doesn't have any clue where to begin. Sure, there's lots of information on the internet about ghosts and demons and everything, but how is she supposed to know what's accurate and what's bullshit? She's thought about asking Jody, but she's afraid that if Jody finds out that she wants to hunt, she'll try to stop her. She figures she'll just have to learn from experience.

With that in mind, she starts compulsively reading the local news and online crime blogs, looking for anything that might not be quite natural. She bookmarks a few that seem like possibilities: the unexpected death of a relatively young and healthy local councilman, reports of an out of control dog, and a teenager who went missing from the local makeout spot. She decides to start with the first one and looks up some more articles on the subject; she finds the victim's obituary on the website of the local paper and skims through it.

Kenneth Frederick Marshall (1960-2015) passed away last Tuesday at the age of fifty-five. Ken is loved and remembered by his wife Anne, his son Mason, and his sister Maggie, as well as by the many members of the community he has helped throughout the years in his work both as a defense lawyer and as a member of the town council.

It goes on to talk about boring things like how he loved his cat and his rosebushes and whatever and there's another page that has a statement from the rest of the town council expressing their condolences to the family, but nothing about cause of death. Someone dropped dead and no one was talking about how or why or where, clearly this meant something had to be going on. The problem was, it also meant that Claire had no clues as to what kind of monster might be involved. A witch's curse maybe? She needs more information and since she can't exactly conduct a police interview herself, the next best thing is to get it from someone who can.

* * *

Claire walks into the Sioux Falls sheriff station on Saturday morning, trying to look as natural as possible. Usually if she's coming to places like this, she's being marched in by the cops, not strolling in voluntarily. Jody brought her here a few days ago when she first arrived, so she recognizes the deputy sitting at the front desk.

"Hi Frank, how's it going?"

He looks up at her. "Hello. Claire isn't it? Jody's new kid?"

"Yeah, that's me" she smiles in what she hopes is a friendly but casual manner.

"Well, if you're looking for Jody, she's not in this morning."

Claire already knows that since she just saw Jody at home, but she acts disappointed anyways. "Oh, shoot. I'm trying to get into club at school, so I can meet a few people, but I forgot I needed her to sign something for me."

Frank looks sympathetic. "Its always tough starting at a new school, but at least you're in the same grade as Alex, aren't you?"

"Yeah" Claire agrees, not saying that she'd rather poke her own eyes out than hang out with Alex's boy obsessed clique. She'd met some of them a few days ago when they came home with Alex after school, and she had not been impressed with the encounter.

"So, anything interesting going on around here?" she asks as nonchalantly as possible.

"Well, I can't talk about police investigations" he says cautiously.

"No, I know" she says backpedaling. "I'm just trying to get up to date on the town news. I heard something about a councilman dying."

"Oh right" he says relaxing. He can talk about things that were in the newspaper, and Frank has never minded a bit of gossip. "Yeah, we were very shocked by that one. Amanda Jenning especially since it happened in her home."

"Amanda Jenning?"

"They were on the town council together."

"Oh, were they having a meeting or something?"

"No, it was a personal visit." He's growing more cautious again and while there's definitely something going on here, Claire senses that she isn't likely to get anything more from him.

"Right, well, I should be getting going now. Nice chatting with you." With that, she turns abruptly and heads out the door, leaving the befuddled deputy in her wake.

* * *

Claire may not have the Winchester's hacking skills, but she is fairly proficient with the internet. It hadn't taken her all that long to come up with the address of Councilwoman Jenning. She knows enough about investigation to know that it's crucial to see the crime scene, so really there is only one option: she's going to break in. She spends a couple of boring hours staking out the upper-middle class suburban home before she sees Jenning get in her Mercedes and drive away. Now is her opportunity.

Fortunately, despite the fancy home, madam councilwoman seems to have neglected the fancy alarm system to go with it, so all Claire has to contend with is the locked front door, which for a kid who grew up in the system poses no problem. Granted, she's more used to breaking out of places than into them, but lock picking works the same either way.

Once into the house, she tiptoes around going from room to room. Since she has no idea which room the death took place in, she decides to give them all a cursory search to see if anything jumps out at her (hopefully not literally). She rummages through cupboards and closets, but only finds the normal paraphernalia of life: books and boots and brooms. Its not until she makes her way upstairs to the master bedroom that she makes her crucial discovery.

The bedroom itself is perfectly normal, with its neatly made queen-sized bed and smooth wooden dresser. Its when she searches the top shelf of the closet that things start to get weird. Claire runs her hand along the shelf and encounters cool metal, pulling at it she finds a coil of solid steel chain. Exploring further, she finds a weird red necklace that looks like it could be magical, and a glass jar filled with a strange red liquid that could be blood. She's about to pull the jar down for a closer look when she hears a car pull up outside.

She cautiously peaks out through the venetian blinds and has a moment of initial panic when she sees a Sioux Falls police car pulled up outside. She watches as Jody gets out of the car, all business, and works to calm herself down. This is okay, Jody is a hunter. Claire hadn't wanted to go to her before, when she only had suspicions, but now that she has actual evidence, maybe Jody can help her. With this in mind, she hurries down the stairs to meet her new foster parent.

"Claire?" The look on Jody's face is a mixture of shock, fear, and anger. "You set off the silent alarm? What are you doing here?"

"I'm hunting."

"What?"

"Listen, I've been investigating Kenneth Marshall's death and there's something not right about it. A relatively young and healthy guy dies with no warning, the details are being kept out of the news, plus you'll never guess what I found in this lady's closet."

"Claire . . . " Jody starts her face still frozen in surprise.

"Just come look." Claire grabs Jody's hand and drags her up the stairs to the bedroom.

"Look. Look at this. She has chains, and some kind of amulet, and I think this might be blood. Maybe she's a vampire."

"Claire" Jody tries again, her face turning vaguely red, "these are props."

"Props?"

"Yes. I already took Ms. Jenning's statement about the death. She and Mr. Marshall were having an affair, that's why everyone is being vague about the details, out of respect for the family. Apparently the two of them were into something called", Jody coughs, "erotic cosplay. Its what they were doing when his heart gave out."

"His heart?"

"Ken Marshall had a heart condition. Something called long Q-T syndrome. Apparently the, umm, exertion, caused him to go into cardiac arrest and die."

"Oh" says Claire, suddenly understanding. A wave of deep embarrassment washes over her but is pushed aside by fear. "Are you going to arrest me?"

Jody looks undecided. "I should. Caught breaking and entering in your first week! But it was a mistake, and what with your mother dying recently, just this once I can tell them it was a false alarm."

Part of Claire hates playing the dead mother card, but she really can't afford to be picky right now. "Are you going to kick me out then?"

"No" Jody says more surely. "No, I'm not going to do that. But you are definitely grounded. Now let's get home before you get in any more trouble."

* * *

"So, you found chains in her closet and thought she was evil? Claire, I knew you were young, but I didn't think you were that naïve" Dean laughs.

"Shut up" Claire growls into her cell phone.

The laughing continues. "I guess I shouldn't give you too hard a time" he finally says. "Its not like I haven't had my share of embarrassing moments during hunts. Like this one time I got mind-melded to a dog, or the time some monster infected me with something that made me afraid of everything. I ran away from a Yorkie."

Now its Claire's turn to laugh.

"but seriously Claire, if something like this comes up again, where you're not sure what's going on, give me a call. I know you want to do as much as you can by yourself, but it's really helpful to have someone to bounce ideas off of sometimes."

"Okay, sure" she smiles, "I'll call you."


	9. Cujo

Part of Claire wants to give up and hide out in her room after the vampire cosplay fiasco, but she knows that if she really wants to be a hunter, she can't quit that easily. So back to the list it is, moving on to the next possible supernatural occurrence she had bookmarked and rereading the article.

 **Wild Dog Attacks Increasing**

 **Over the past six months, residents in the area of Falls Park have faced an increasing number of dog attacks. The most recent incident left mother of four, Terry Frence, in hospital with multiple lacerations to her face and arms. The incident occurred at night and Ms. Frence was unable to provide a complete description of her attacker, saying only that it was a large, black dog. While there have not yet been any fatalities, this is the fourth incident reported and the second to lead to hospitalization. There has been speculation within the neighborhood that there may be a wild dog pack living in Falls Park. However, so far, no more than one canine has ever been witnessed at a time. Animal control is investigating.**

Claire taps her finger thoughtfully against the desk. Large black dog attacking at night certainly sounds like it could be something, but on the other hand, most supernatural monsters kill their victims, not just rough them up a little. This could just as easily be a Doberman as a Hellhound. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to have a second opinion.

* * *

"It's not a Hellhound" Dean says over the phone.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, Hellhounds only attack people who have made deals with demons, and they always kill them."

"So, I was wrong again, this is just some rabid Doberman?"

"Not necessarily. There are plenty of other dog-like monsters it could be. A black dog, or a skinwalker maybe."

"So, what should I do?"

She hears an almost wistful sigh from the other end of the phone. "Interview the victims. Try to figure out what and where it is. Then you can figure out how to kill it."

"Okay, I can do that."

She's about to thank him and hang up but Dean starts talking again before she can. "So how is school going?"

"You want to hear about school?"

"Come on Claire, I'm bored, humour me."

"Sam still won't let you hunt?"

"Sometimes he will. We took out a poltergeist last week, which was good, but even when we're out there, he tries to do all the dangerous stuff himself. It's really annoying. Plus, he's refusing to buy me beer."

"He's trying to parent you. It's sort of adorable."

"It's driving me crazy. I'm 37 years old! I used to change his diapers."

"Eww."

He sighs again. "Just let me know what you find. I could use all the excitement I can get."

"Will do. Bye Dean."

* * *

Claire knocks on the door of the woman mentioned in the article, Terry Frence. She's learned her lesson, and this time she's doing this in broad daylight, nothing illegal about it. The door squeaks open and a bandage covered face pokes out.

"Yes?" Ms. Frence asks.

Claire smiles broadly. "Hello, my name is Claire Novak, I'm part of Roosevelt High School's journalism club and I was wondering if I could ask you a couple questions about the attack last week."

The woman sighs a little. "Fine, well, I suppose I don't really have anything better to do. I'm still off work. Come in then." She ushers Claire into her living room and plops herself down on the floral sofa. "Well, go on then."

Claire sits down tentatively across from her. "I was hoping you could take me through what happened that night."

"I went outside to take the trash out, so I didn't have to get up early the next morning to do it. I was just about to head back in, when something ran into me and pushed me over. I fell on my side in the gravel and that's how I got these." She gestures to the bandages.

"Wait, the dog didn't actually bite you or anything, you just fell over?"

"I was attacked and knocked over, by a vicious animal. Then it stood over me and growled right in my face, I thought I was done for but then it ran off again."

"I heard you had to go to the hospital."

"Yes, I needed a few stiches and a tetanus shot, but they didn't keep me overnight or anything."

"So, what did it look like?" Claire asks, thinking that those neighborhood crime blogs apparently aren't very accurate.

"I think it was a black lab, but I've never seen it around the neighborhood before, If I knew who the owner was, I assure you I would have reported them. I didn't think when I moved to this area a few months ago that I was moving to some kind of uncivilised jungle."

"You're new here."

"Yes, this entire block of houses was only built a few months ago. Is that it now, or do you need something else?"

"No, that's great. Thanks for your time."

* * *

At first, Claire is discouraged by the witness's description of her attacker as a Labrador, especially since it seemed a lot less violent than most of the monsters she had heard of, but something about hearing that the subdivision was recently constructed niggles at her.

She turns on her laptop with a sigh, more research it is. Claire can't help but wonder if she'll ever get to the actual ass-kicking part of the gig. However, despite her reluctance, the information proves fairly easy to uncover. Before the new houses went up, the property had been home to an old church, and its attached graveyard. There were a couple of news stories about it the year before. In order to build on the land, the developers had to get special permission to move the long-decayed bodies elsewhere for reburial. Theoretically with the corpses gone, there shouldn't be any ghosts around, but the timing is just too suspicious. Maybe there was some kind of curse released when the graves were disturbed? Like in The Mummy. Now that she finally has a theory, Claire contemplates her next step. She can head out that evening to investigate, but there's still some time before it gets dark, she should use the time to find out as much as she can.

Sighing, Claire reaches for her phone. Even though she knows it's the smart thing to do, she still really hates asking for help. Dean picks up after the forth ring.

"Hey Claire, how've you been? Getting anywhere with your Cujo case?"

"Yeah, I think so" she laughs lightly. "I was actually hoping to get your opinion on something."

He listens patiently as she goes through the case.

"It's a solid theory, we saw a curse kind of like that once. Only it was bugs instead of a dog. If you're right, the best way to end a curse is usually to destroy the object it's attached to. Any idea what that might be?"

"No, but I'm going out tonight to investigate, you know, see if there's anything left of the old graveyard."

"Claire, be careful. And just in case it is a ghost, take salt."

"I will, thanks."

She hangs up and goes to gather what she'll need for the night's mission. Here comes the fun part.


	10. Pet Sematary

Cell phone in one hand acting as a flashlight, canister of salt in the other, Claire prowls around the modern subdivision, looking for signs of a 1700s graveyard. She's been wandering around, skulking outside each of the houses where the attacks took place, for almost ninety minutes and so far, everything is disappointingly contemporary. Her next stop is a playground that had been put in in an attempt to attract young families to the area. The miniature park is a study in suburban landscaping with fresh green grass that was put in professionally and a row of young trees all perfectly spaced. The children's monkey bars and swing set are all shiny and new and there isn't a tombstone in site.

The only thing around that looks like it's more than a year old, is a large gnarled oak tree near the centre of the little park. Something clicks in her brain, and she realizes that she recognizes the old tree. One of the old news articles she looked at had a picture of the church that got torn down and this tree had been growing right up against the side of it. She makes her way over to it, boots squelching in the damp grass but as she draws closer when she hears a growling noise behind her and a chill comes over her that is only partly from fear.

She turns around slowly, the canister of salt gripped tightly in front of her and sharp bark comes from the thing in front of her. It's a dog alright. Its big, but not unnaturally so, and its fur is black and matted, but it doesn't have glowing red eyes or anything. It would look like a completely normal stray dog if not for one important feature: it's translucent.

Before she has time to examine it any further, the ghost dog charges towards her and leaps at her throat. Just as its jaws are about to reach her, Claire swipes the salt canister through the air in front of her, and the dog disappears. She stands in place for a few seconds, her body still but her mind moving a mile a minute. Clearly, she was right, and this is a real case. Though it seems to be a ghost and not a curse, so she was wrong about that part. Can animals even be ghosts? And how long after you dissipate a ghost does it take to come back? Claire assumes that the fact that it appeared when she was going to investigate the tree must be significant. She should go back to what she was doing, but what if it comes up behind her while she's looking around. Right now, she can certainly see the advantages to the Winchesters working as a pair, it would make things a lot easier to have someone watching her back.

With no other choice, she finally makes it to the tree and runs her fingers along its bark as she walks in a circle around it. As far as she can tell, its just a tree, though an old one. Then she notices a small plaque placed in the earth at the base of the trunk and bends over to read it.

 **This Northern Red Oak was planted over 200 years ago by the citizens of Sioux Falls to celebrate the opening of the then new First Anglican Church. For centuries it stood guard over the church and its attached cemetery. The Sioux Falls Parks Council has chosen to preserve this historic tree for the enjoyment of future generations.**

As she crouches over the sign, reading by the light of her cell phone, Claire once more hears an ominous growling coming from behind her. She scrambles to her feet reaching for the salt when a gun shot rings out through the night. She turns around to find Dean toting a sawed-off shotgun and walking towards her across the park.

"Dean? What are you doing here?"

"I got worried."

"It's a six-hour drive."

"I left right after we finished talking. I may have sped a little."

Well, so much for his great wisdom about not attracting attention by breaking traffic laws. "So, you drove all the way out here because you were worried? You know it's not your job to watch out for me anymore."

"I'm not here because I think it's my job. And I'm not here because I think you aren't capable. I'm here because you're my friend and you're still really new at this, and I thought you might need someone to watch your back. Besides, I've driven a lot further for a case than six hours."

Claire supposes she can't really be mad at him considering she was just thinking pretty much the same thing. "So, that was a ghost huh?"

"I guess. I've never actually seen the ghost of a dog before."

"Really? I thought you were supposed to be the expert."

"Just one more thing to love about this job, Claire. It never stops surprising you with new and freaky monsters that want to kill you."

"Great. Well, I think it's trying to protect this tree or something."

"Yeah?"

"It first attacked when I started to get close to it. Apparently, it was planted at the same time the church was first built."

"And there used to be a graveyard here right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"This is starting to sound sort of familiar. I think maybe I've read about something like this before."

"So how do we get rid of it?"

"I don't know. I've read a lot of things over the years, its hard to remember the ones I haven't actually encountered." Dean paces around frustratedly, scanning the darkness with his shotgun held high and gripped firmly in front of him.

"Alright, hold on." Claire pulls her cell back out of her jacket pocket.

"What, do you have an expert on ghost dogs on speed dial?"

"No, I have a data plan."

He raises his eyebrow skeptically but continues to stand in front of her, weapon raised protectively, as she taps "Church + graveyard + dog" into her search engine. She quickly skims over some information on this weird occult site and is only jolted out of it by the sound of another shotgun blast.

"Claire, we aren't going to have much longer before someone calls the cops. Are you finding anything?"

"Yes. Apparently, there's something called a Church Grim. It used to be the custom for people to bury a black dog at any new graveyard, before any people were actually buried there. The spirit of the dog was supposed to act as some kind of guardian and scare off anyone who tried to desecrate the church grounds."

"That sounds like it could be our friend here alright. Tearing down the church and building a bunch of ugly-ass townhouses certainly sounds like desecration. Is the all-knowing internet giving you any other useful information?"

"No, not really."

"Well, a normal ghost we would salt and burn, but that's not going to be easy here."

"Why?"

"No headstone. No coffin to contain the body and keep it together. If we're right and fido was buried under the tree, then its bones are going to be all tangled up in its roots. We might never find them all."

"So, what do we do now?"

"Retreat."

"What?"

"We don't know what we're doing out here, and those gunshots probably have the cops on their way; we can't do anything more tonight. Besides, so far, the spirit hasn't really hurt anyone much, right? So really the only people in any immediate danger are us."

"So we just walk away?"

"Just until we can figure out how to solve this. I don't like this anymore than you do Claire, but I'm not seeing a lot of other options."

Claire takes one last glance behind her at the as the two of them make their way back to where Dean parked the Impala. She's not sure whether or not she imagines the eyes looking back at her.


	11. All Dogs Go to Heaven

By the time Dean and Claire get back to Jody's place it's well past midnight. Claire intends to sneak up to her room without talking to anyone, but Jody is far from oblivious and is already making her way down the stairs by the time they get in the front door.

"Claire, what's going on? Is that the Winchester's car . . ." Jody breaks off as she notices Dean following Claire in. "Who are you?"

Right, Claire had forgotten that Jody probably hadn't seen Dean like this yet.

"Umm, hi Jody. It's Dean" he answers. There's a moment of awkwardness as Jody stares at the now younger Winchester.

"Dean? Wow, I mean I'd heard, but it's hard to imagine, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm short and cute again, I know. Is it okay if I crash on your couch for the night?"

"You're welcome to, but what exactly are you doing here? Is Sam with you?"

"No, Sam's off investigating some possible demon omens. He's trying to keep me away from demons right now, so they don't find out about my situation", he gestures to himself. It's obvious to both Jody and Claire from the way he says this, that Dean is not happy about his brother potentially facing off against demons with no backup.

"And you're here because . . ." Jody presses again.

"Because . . ." Dean starts, clearly struggling to think up an excuse.

"Because he's helping me with a hunt" Claire interrupts. "Or at least he was going to, but it turned out to be nothing again. Just a rabid dog."

Jody sighs heavily. "Claire, I thought after last time you realized that hunting isn't just something you can pick up as a weekend hobby. You should be focusing on graduating, like Alex. Besides, I'm not at all sure that I like the idea of you two out there alone."

That last remark seems to piss Dean off and he gives Jody his most macho glare. "With all respect Jody, I have been at this a lot longer than you have and if it had been something, Claire and I would have handled it just fine."

"Well if it was just a dog, then let's not make a fuss over nothing" Jody says, trying to restore the peace. "Dean, extra blankets are in the hall closet. Now it's past midnight, so I will see you both in the morning." With that she heads back up the stairs leaving the other two get ready for bed.

* * *

Fortunately, the next day is a Sunday so Dean and Claire are able to spend the morning researching without anyone telling them to go to school. Even more fortunately, Jody had been called away to work and so wasn't around to wonder why they were suddenly so interested in reading about spirit dogs and church cemeteries.

Claire flips through the pile of books spread out on Jody's table while Dean types away at his laptop. "I think you were right on with the whole Church Grim thing, Claire. It really seems to fit."

"Yeah, but the more I read about it, the more I feel sorry for the poor thing. Apparently, the custom was to find and kill some poor dog in this ritual that bound its soul to the church grounds forever,"

"That's probably why I haven't seen a ghost animal before, it requires some kind of special mojo. Unlike humans, animals aren't dumb enough to stick around after they're dead."

"Still nothing about how to gank it though. Are you sure we can't just burn the bones?"

"I've been thinking about it. Even if we can rip out the tree and excavate the whole area, it would still take days of sifting through the dirt to be able to find all the bones, and that wouldn't exactly go unnoticed by the neighbors. The only reason a salt and burn usually works so well is because human remains are typically contained in something like a coffin. Or a wall. Or a cupboard. Or a car."

"Lovely. So, is there any other way to get rid of a ghost?"

"Well, sometimes if you can figure out what's keeping them here, you can get them to move on by helping them resolve it. In this case, we know what's keeping it here, it's been given a specific mission by the church. That mission is over, but how we're supposed to convince a dog of that, I don't know."

Claire thinks for a minute. "We can't convince it, but maybe somebody else can."

* * *

Two hours later, Claire and Dean are standing on a front porch getting ready to ring the doorbell.

"So, you really think this could work?" Claire asks as she presses her thumb against the doorbell button.

"It was a good idea Claire. It might be hard to convince him, but right now it's our best shot."

There's a muffled thumping sound as someone walks to the door and a soft huff as it's pushed open to reveal a man with white hair and a book in his hand. "Hello? He says, peering over the top of his glasses at them.

"Hi. Are you Mr. Forster?" Claire asks.

"Yes" he answers, his expression mildly curious. "How can I help you kids."

"I'm Claire and this my friend Dean. We read that you used to be the pastor at the old church out by Falls Park."

"I was, but I'm retired now."

"Yes, and we're sorry to disturb you, really, but we just wanted to ask: Mr. Forster, do you believe in ghosts?"

* * *

The conversation that follows is neither short nor easy. It starts on a sunny front porch and ends in a comfortable living room with the sun going down outside. It includes long explanations, denials, cajoling, and some debating about biblical theology, which Dean is surprisingly familiar with. In the end, they convince him, or if not convince him, at least come close enough that he agrees to see for himself. It's Claire's heartfelt appeal that really nails it down: "The attacks are getting worse. They started off with people just being scared off by some aggressive barking, but now its started injuring people, who knows what could happen if it goes on. It was the church that made this mess and it has to be the church to clean it up." It must have worked, because now the three of them getting out of the car and walking through the dusk towards old tree.

"So now we just wait and see if this thing shows up?" the retired pastor asks.

"Oh, I don't think we'll have to wait very long" Dean answers, and sure enough poking its head out from the other side of the tree, is ghost dog. It growls at them at first, but when the ghost catches sight of Pastor Forster, it almost immediately becomes docile. It goes from bearing its teeth at them threateningly to trotting over like a playful puppy in under ten seconds.

The pastor meanwhile undergoes a similarly dramatic change from indulgent skeptic to shocked and afraid. "Good Lord! That's, that's a . . ."

"That's a ghost" says Claire, playing it cool despite her persistent worries that her plan won't work. "It's a restless spirit bound to the site of your old church and only you can set it free."

He visibly gathers himself. "Remind me again how I'm supposed to do that."

"Just talk to it" Dean replies, "tell it that its job is done and that it can go now."

Claire takes Pastor Forster by the arm and leads him towards the ghost dog, who is wagging its tail happily. The three of them step forward slowly and the pastor crouches down to be at eye level with the ghostly canine. It's a little impressive really, how well he's doing for someone who's never been exposed to the supernatural before. Solemnly the pastor looks the dog right in the face and despite his obvious fear, manages to speak with authority.

"It's finished now, you've done well, but it's finished." The dog wines softly. "It's finished, you can move on. I release you to move on." There's a short pause and then the dog begins to glow softly, the light making it look more like a living pet than a ghostly guardian. Gradually, the glow intensifies until Claire is forced to look away, and when it dies down and she looks back, the ghost is gone.

"So that's it?" the pastor asks.

"That's it."

* * *

Claire sits in the passenger seat of the Impala as Dean drives them back to Jody's place after dropping off the pastor back at home.

"Your plan worked great Claire. I think with some more experience you're going to be really great at this."

She smiles softly. "Thanks." They sit in silence for the rest of the trip as Claire watches the houses go by outside her window.

When they pull up to the house, Claire gets ready to get out, but stops when she notices Dean sitting in place. "Aren't you coming in?"

"No, it's still early evening, so if I leave now, I can make it home before too late. Plus, I've imposed on Jody enough already."

"Oh, well then thanks for all your help I guess." She's suddenly not sure what to say, a simple goodbye feels too anticlimactic after taking out a ghost together, so instead she settles back in her seat and turns to look at him.

"Dean?"

"Yeah?" he turns towards her.

She leans forward and stares him down and he seems to get the hint because he leans forward too. Then their lips meet and move against each other, his tongue swirling against hers, not forcing its way in, but silently asking entry. He's not like all the teenage boys she's kissed before, those encounters were fueled by teenage horniness and usually alcohol. This is less sloppy, more precise, this is someone who's had plenty of practice and who cares enough to make it enjoyable.

They break apart and he leans back to his seat. "Did you want to say something Claire?" he smirks at her.

"Just, goodbye" and with that she exits the car and heads into the house.


	12. Top Gun

As Claire blows out the eighteen candles on the birthday cake that Jody made her, she reflects on how much everything has changed over the past few months. Its been a rollercoaster of some of the best and worst moments of her life: she lost Randy, she got away from the group home, she lost her mother, she found a new family in Jody and Alex. And then there's Dean. She's not entirely sure yet whether he belongs in the good column or the bad one, but thinking about him at all right now makes her want to punch his teeth in. Better to concentrate on something else, like the fact that she has an actual cake and presents for her birthday for the first time in years.

* * *

The next morning is a Saturday and Claire the morning cleaning up the kitchen from breakfast. Jody enforces a strict division of labour in their little household. She made pancakes for breakfast this morning, and it's Claire's turn to wash up. Claire is filling the sink with water for dishes when there's a knock at the door. Jody goes to open it and Claire hears her talking to whoever it is, but she can't make out the words over the sound of the water filling the sink.

She only looks up when she hears a soft "hey" from behind her. She turns around to find Dean, leaning against the doorway into the kitchen, wearing a leather jacket that looks at least two sizes too big for him. Of course, he's here. He seems to be making a habit of barging into her life when she's not expecting him, and it's starting to get old.

"What are you doing here?" she asks gruffly.

"I came to give you your birthday present."

She huffs at him. "Really? It's been two weeks since the ghost dog and you think you can just show up at my door like this?" She looks around to make sure Jody and Alex aren't within earshot and lowers her voice. "I mean, we kissed, and you were supposed to call me, and you didn't. I waited for a week and then I finally called you, and you blew me off!"

"I know, I'm sorry." He at least has enough manners to look guilty. "I had a lot of thinking to do."

"About what?" she snaps at him.

"About whether or not I should be kissing you at all. I'm almost twenty years older than you. It just felt wrong."

"It felt wrong?" she asks, hurt.

"No, no, not the kiss itself, that was really nice" he backpedals. "But afterwards, when I was thinking about it, it felt like I was taking advantage of you."

"Don't give me that bullshit. I'm not a little kid. In fact, as of yesterday, I am officially an adult."

"I know. I don't think of you as a kid, you're a beautiful, smart, strong woman. I just needed to work some things out in my head. It's difficult for me, I feel like I'm constantly being pulled between fifteen and thirty-seven, but I never meant to make you feel ignored."

Claire really can't stay mad at him after a speech like that. "You said something about a present?"

He grins at her, relieved to be forgiven. "Well, see the thing is, it's not exactly here, it's back at the bunker. I came to pick you up and take you to it. I talked to Jody, and she's cool with you staying over for the night."

"So, you're inviting me to stay over for the weekend?"

He blushes. "Well, yeah, I guess, but just so I can give you your present. I mean . . ."

She takes pity on him and interrupts, for someone who acts so tough, he can be adorably awkward sometimes. "Wait here, I'll go grab my toothbrush."

* * *

Claire expects the six-hour car ride into Kansas to be boring, but the time passes surprisingly quickly. She puts up with Dean's Led Zeppelin and Metallica tapes for about the first two hours then flips through the stations to find something a little more contemporary. Dean grimaces when she selects a modern rock station playing The Pretty Reckless but lets her get away with it.

When they arrive at the bunker, Dean quickly pulls her into the library and thrusts a hastily wrapped present into her arms. Whatever it is, he seems to have wrapped it in an old shoebox, and when she gives it a shake, she can feel something sliding around inside.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything, but why did we need to drive to Kansas for you to give me this?"

"That's only the first part. Open it."

She complies, ripping off the paper and popping open the old Nike box. Inside is a gun. She stares at it for a moment then looks up at Dean who is grinning at her.

"I was shaking this around" she says nervously.

He laughs at her. "Its not loaded."

"You're seriously giving this to me?" she grins.

"A long as you agree to let me teach you how to use it properly. If you're going to be a hunter, then you need to get used to the tools of the trade. I brought you here because we have a firing range. That's the second part of your present."

Claire's grin widens.

* * *

Claire expects to be heading straight down to the shooting range and firing off a few rounds, but that turns out not to be the case. Dean makes her work for hours first: teaching her how to load and unload pistol, how to take it apart, clean it, and put it back together again. By the time he deems her worthy of an actual shooting lesson, she's almost too tired for it. She changes her mind quickly though, when they actually get to it.

The first shot goes off, surprising her with both its volume and the force of the kickback, the bullet going well off target. She's a little embarrassed for a moment, glancing self-consciously at her instructor, who patiently corrects her grip and posture. This continues for some time, with Claire improving marginally with each adjustment. At one-point Dean comes up behind her, wrapping his arms around her, and placing his hands over hers. It's meant to be to show her how to hold the pistol properly in both hands, but she feels a thrill as she leans back against him, knowing he could just as easily have explained it to her verbally.

After a few hours of practice, and significant improvement in Claire's skills, the two of them join Sam for dinner. He's apparently spent the day on some kind of research trip and returned with take out. It's not as good as Jody's home cooking but it's hot and it's hearty and it's just what she needs after her long day. After dinner, Sam retreats to the library for more book reading and Claire and Dean set themselves up with an 80's movie on a laptop. It's a familiar callback to the start of their friendship, though in those days, their little film club involved more actually watching the movie and a lot less making out on the couch.

The next morning, Claire practices in the shooting range for a few more hours and then Dean drives her home. They kiss goodbye in the Impala again and she enters the house, pistol packed carefully in her bag where Jody won't see it. Only a few more weeks before graduation, and then she can finally start hunting for real.


	13. Say Anything

Dean unwraps his sandwich and beams at it with delight.

"What the hell is that?" asks Sam. The two of them are sitting in the library, Sam searching the internet for potential cases that he deems safe enough for Dean to be involved in.

"That's the Elvis" Dean replies.

"Elvis?" Sam takes a closer look. "Is that a . . .?"

"That's a glazed donut. Two of them actually: one topside and one on the bottom. Now, your inferior versions will just take one donut and split it right down the middle, but not these guys."

"That's disgusting. How many calories is that?"

"Hey, I'm a growing boy. Who knows, this time I might even end up taller than you."

Sam snorts at him. "Not likely." While it's true that Dean's gained a few inches over the nine months or so that he's been a teenager, he is still considerably shorter than his former adult height, let alone Sam's larger stature.

Dean's phone starts to ring but he's too busy with a mouth full of the Elvis to be able to speak to anyone, so Sam picks it up from the table and answers it for him.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Dean. I think I found another case."

"Actually, it's Sam. Is this Claire?"

"Yeah, oh hey, Sam. How's it going?" Claire responds soundly oddly guilty.

"Fine. What's that you were saying about a case?"

"Oh, it's nothing. A few teenagers going missing, but they probably just ran off or something."

"No, that sounds like it could be serious. Have you talked to Jody about this?"

"No, I just wanted to get a second opinion on it first."

"Well, you've got it. In fact, its slow right now, and we haven't visited in a while, we'll drive over."

"That's really not necessary."

"No, I insist" says Sam, desperate to get his overly restless brother away from the bunker for a while. "Tell Jody we'll be there for dinner."

* * *

Jody is pulling a chicken out of the oven, when the Winchester's unexpectedly show up at the door. She whips off her oven mitts and ushers them both into the house, greeting them each with a hug.

"Hey, is everything okay? I didn't actually butt dial you or something did I?"

"I called" Claire interjects, "about some monsters that I've been tracking."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding!" Jody rolls her eyes at Claire before turning to Sam. "You know, if you'd checked in with me, I could have saved you a trip."

"Well, we figured we owed you a visit."

"Well it's always nice to see you. Have a seat boys, there's plenty of chicken."

Soon, the two brothers are stuffing their faces, their grunts of appreciation the only interruption to the awkward silence around the dinner table.

"This bird is fantastic" Dean grumbles through a very full mouth, "when you mix it up with the potatoes and the beans. You guys eat like this everyday?"

"It's just chicken."

"It's shaped like chicken. Not a patty or a nugget", Sam explains.

"Can we get to the case" Claire interjects. She certainly hadn't expected both Winchesters to show up when she first called Dean. But the two teen's secret hunting trips were bound to be found out eventually, so they may as well get on with it. "Three people are missing." The brothers manage to tear themselves away from dinner long enough to give her their attention.

Jody gives Claire her disappointed mother look. "Claire, I know the people you're referring to and there is no evidence that they didn't just skip town on their own. Two of them were runaways, one was a homeless guy."

"He was last seen at Braden Point. I've been staking it out" says Claire ignoring her.

"Braden point?" Dean questions.

"Its where teenagers go to sit in cars and make out" Claire explains. Dean gives her a smirk across the table that she hopes no one else notices. She continues on, ignoring him. "Guys, something is out there."

"This is according to the neighborhood crime blogs she's been reading" says Jody as she intercepts Alex trying to steal a sip of wine.

"They're eye witness accounts."

"Well, we've hunted on less" Sam admits.

"Claire did catch a werewolf" Alex suddenly pipes up. "Oh right, it turned out to be a labrador with rabies" she says referring to Claire's cover story for the ghost dog hunt.

"And before that was the vampire" Jody adds. "Councilwoman into erotic cosplay."

"I've been hunting."

"AKA menacing innocent people. The only reason she's not sitting in jail right now is that I'm the sheriff."

"Fine, I've been wrong before, but this time I know there's a monster."

"Can we stop talking about monsters and hunting" exclaims Alex, the non-hunter at the table. "What about real life?"

"Real life? Ok, let's get real. You and Henry settle on a weekend yet?" asks Claire.

"What?"

"For when you're headed up to Jody's cabin to screw yourselves silly."

There's a sudden clattering as forks are dropped to plates.

"We're not. You're completely insane."

"This seems like family business" says Sam as he and Dean attempt to escape the table.

"Sit! Stay!" Jody commands them and they sit back down sheepishly as Claire smiles, content in her victory.

"Alex, anything you want to say?" asks Jody.

"Only that its not like Claire's one to talk." She turns toward her blonde rival. "Are you really going to tell me that you haven't done it with your boyfriend yet?"

"What boyfriend?"

"The one sitting across the table from you." Several mouths fall open all at once. "I saw the two of you kissing the other night. I was going to keep it a secret since it was obvious that you didn't want anyone to know, but if you're not going to respect my privacy, then I'm not going to respect yours."

"Dean?" Sam questions.

"Claire, is this true?" Jody says at the same time.

"Yes. Claire and I have been, uh, seeing each other, I guess, for the past few weeks" Dean answers

"We're both adults" Claire snaps. "It's none of anyone else's business."

"And are all of you being safe?" Jody says, addressing both of her girls. She's met only with stunned silence and a look of sheer panic from Sam. "Hey, if we can't talk about it, then we shouldn't be doing it, right?" she turns to Sam for support. Sam gapes at her like a fish. "Okay, I am not going to tell you that you are too young to be having sex. What I will tell you is that birth control pills are useless against STDs. Whoever you are with needs to suit up. Every time. Always."

"Ok, we get it!", Alex cuts her off.

"And don't expect the guy to always show up packing. She turns toward the Winchesters again. "Am I right?"

"What?" Dean asks cluelessly.

"Seriously?" Jody sighs.

"Stop, we haven't done anything yet" Says Alex.

"Neither have we" Claire cuts in.

"So, can we please drop this already" Alex continues.

"Right" says Jody. "I'm going to get some more mashed potatoes." She gulps down the contents of her wine glass and exits to the kitchen.

* * *

Sam clears his throat as he comes up behind Dean, who's washing dishes in Jody's kitchen, probably in an attempt to escape having to stick around after the most awkward dinner conversation ever.

"Dean, I think we should talk."

"About what?" he answers, pointedly not looking at his brother as he focuses on degreasing the roasting pan.

"You know what about. Is it true that you and Claire are, umm, dating?"

"Yes, it is, and I really don't see why that should be such a big deal."

"Well, don't you think it's a little inappropriate, with the age difference and all? Plus, you're not exactly known for your track record of long-term stable relationships. I just don't want Claire to get hurt."

Dean scrubs harder, still not turning around. "You have to make up your mind Sam. Either I'm an adult and you should stop insisting on all these stupid restrictions around hunting, or I'm a teenager and there should be absolutely no problem with me dating Claire. You need to stop treating me like a kid, man. I'm still your older brother."

Sam sighs. "I know that I do, but it's just hard for me to see it sometimes. I look at you now, and you look all young and vulnerable, and I feel protective." Dean finally turns and looks up at him as Sam continues. "I can't help thinking that maybe that's sort of the way you've felt our whole lives, but it's new for me and I'm still trying to figure it out."

"I get it Sammy, I do. A lot of things are different now, and I'm still trying to figure things out too. But you've got to realise that a lot of things are the same, I'm the same. And as for Claire, I'd be the first to admit that I'm out of my depth there. I've certainly never had to do the whole meet the parents thing, like with Jody tonight, but I care about her. I'm not going to hurt her. Can you please just trust me a little?"

"I'll try." Sam's serious expression suddenly twists into a grin. "So do you think she'll ask you to the prom?"

Dean throws the dirty dishtowel at him. "Shut up, Bitch."

"Jerk."


	14. The Lost Boys

Claire slams the truck door closed as she waves goodbye to Jody. She's not happy about being forced to go to school today, but she had made the commitment, when she moved in with Jody, to finish high school, and Jody is holding her to it, so 9:00 am English it is. Besides, she mastered the art of hiding her phone behind her textbooks long ago, so she'll still be able to look stuff up in class.

As she trudges towards the school, Alex racing ahead to find her boyfriend, Henry, Claire notices a large crowd gathered outside the building. She doesn't think much of it at first, it's only when she hears some other girl scream that she looks up to see one of the teachers hanging upside-down from the flag pole, dead. The frightened mass of teenagers are all pulling out their cell phones, some to take pictures, some to call the police. Claire pulls out hers and calls Dean.

* * *

A firetruck arrives with its long ladders for reaching up to the top of the pole. Jody arrives with a small contingent of deputies who start taking statements. Sam arrives in a suit and flashes around his fake FBI badge. Claire is watching Jody and Sam examine the crime scene when she notices Dean walking over with some kind of weird device in his hand.

"There you are. Didn't you come with Sam?"

"No, I can't really pull off a suit anymore and bring your kid to work day apparently isn't a thing with the FBI, so we've had to start arriving to these things separately."

"So, I guess that means I have to wait to have my "I told you so" moment."

"Yeah, you should probably wait until we're away from the crime scene, and the civilians, before we start having the whole ghost vs demon discussion."

"So, what's that thing" she gestures to the device in his hand which looks kind of like a radio.

"It's an EMF detector, you use them to detect ghosts. I've been sweeping the area but there's nothing so far."

Alex wanders over, Henry's arm slung around her shoulder.

"They cancelled school" she addresses Claire. "So, we're going to hang out I guess."

"Hang out, huh?" says Dean, staring down Henry with a look that is clearly meant to intimidate, despite the fact that the other teenager is several inches taller than him.

"Yeah, okay then" goes Alex and the two of them wander off.

Claire raises her eyebrow at Dean. "Yeah, he got the message."

"Damn right he did."

* * *

Claire and Dean are already getting started on research when Jody and Sam make it back to the house. Other than a janitor who Sam describes as "squirrely", they've got nothing. No EMF, no hex bags, and no witnesses.

"So, what was the name of this squirrely janitor" Dean asks.

"Ben Weiler."

Dean types some things into his laptop. "Huh, there's no record of him existing before a few months ago."

"Which is about when he started at the high school" says Claire, "and when the disappearances started, the ones I said were supernatural in the first place."

"Yes, we know. You keep reminding us" Jody bends over to take a look at Dean's search results.

"So, we need to talk to this Mr. Weiler again" says Sam.

"I'm coming with you" says Claire. "I have a fed suit and I can be your new agent trainee."

"Woah, hold up there Quantico" says Jody, "I'm still not comfortable with you being involved in this."

"Besides, the trainee thing doesn't really work" says Dean, "I've tried".

"Sorry Claire, you're just going to have to let Jody and I handle this" agrees Sam, "but don't worry, we'll keep you in the loop." And with that, the two adults are out the door again.

Dean waits until he hears them drive away before he turns to Claire. "So, you said a lot of these disappearances were happening from Braden Point right? You want to go check it out?"

She grins at him. "Damn right I do".

* * *

The local teenage hook-up spot, Braden Point, is actually quite a nice park. Its almost a shame that most of the teenagers that go there never make it out of the parking lot, or even out of their cars. When Dean pulls up, there's only one other vehicle in said parking lot, a shiny new ford. Claire rolls her eyes when she sees it.

"That's Henry's truck"

"Who?"

"Alex's boyfriend."

"Right, the douche in the football jacket."

They get out of the Impala and Claire walks over cautiously, really not wanting to see what may or may not be going on in the back seat. She's both relieved and concerned when she realizes the car is empty.

"They must have gone for a walk."

"And you said that this is the park that people have been disappearing from?"

"Yeah."

"Well then I guess we better go find them."

They start off along the riverside path, keeping an eye out for anything that might mar the otherwise lovely autumn scene. When they catch up with Alex and Henry the two of them are sitting on a fallen tree, deep in conversation.

"Hey" yells Claire running up to them.

"Claire", Alex leaps up off the log, "what are you doing here."

"We're checking out the crime scene. Seriously Alex, I told you this was where people were disappearing from and you still thought it was a good place for a date."

"It's not a crime scene it's a park" Alex snaps as Henry places his arm protectively across her shoulders and pulls her close to him. She glances up at him, hoping that Claire won't say anything else weird that she'll have to lie about later, but does a double take when she sees the predatory look on his face and instinctively tries to move away from him. His arm tightens around her upper body holding her in place with her arms pinned down. She feels hot breath on her neck.

Claire jumps into action the second she sees that Henry won't let go of her foster sister. She pulls her pistol from its hiding place in her jacket. She holds it in front of her with both hands, her aim steady, and her stance strong. She's come a long way from the lost little girl whose hands shook as she even contemplated pulling out a gun in a convenience store. Dean too has a weapon out and the two of them stand side by side as sharp fangs descend over Henry's human teeth.

"Dean, what is he?" Claire asks.

"Vampire." The word makes Alex squirm to get away, but Henry holds her tightly and scraps his fangs against the side of her neck.

"Drop your weapons or prom queen here will be gushing blood" the vampire hisses.

Two pistols are dropped to the grass. Dean raises his arms above his head placatingly and takes a step forward. "So, what is it? That stunt at the school, getting close to Alex, clearly you want our attention." He takes another step. "You've got it now so what's next?"

"The only thing I want from you hunter is your hea . . .". The vampire had clearly been intending to say something intimidating but is cut off when Dean surges forward rams the heal of his palm up underneath its chin. Alex pushes away and ends up sprawled on the grass and Claire rushes to pull her away. With Alex at a safe distance she turns back to the fight and sees that Dean has produced a long knife from somewhere and is twirling it confidently in his hand. He slashes towards Henry's face, but the vampire manages to block. Claire pulls out her own knife and goes to help.

She starts to move forward but a solid weight crashes into her from behind, knocking her to the ground. She manages to flip herself over to find a second snarling vampire inches from her face, who she recognizes as the school custodian that Sam and Jody are looking for. She rams her knife forwards and jams it into her assailant's neck. The monster gurgles blood for a moment but seems more pissed off than anything. It grabs her by the top of her hair and slams her head back into the ground.

Dean fights even more desperately as he notices Claire in trouble. He delivers a roundhouse to the back of Henry's knee, knocking him over, and hurries to help her. He comes up behind the second vampire and moves in for the killing blow but before he can deliver it, Henry manages to recover and makes use of his preternatural speed to catch Dean off guard. Claire has been knocked unconscious, and Dean is left fighting two on one without a proper weapon. He gets in a few jabs, but the two of them eventually overpower him with a blow to the head and it all goes dark.


	15. Once Bitten

When Jody and Sam return home from checking out Mr. Weiler's address (which turned out to be fake), they arrive to find the house empty. Their concern only increases when they realize that neither Dean nor Claire are answering their cell phones, but before they have time to do anything about it Jody gets a phone call from the station.

"This is the sheriff" she answers and listens as one of her staff explains that they've managed to find the real name of the supposed Ben Weiler. He's really Richard Beesome, a trucker from O'Neill, Nebraska, who's been missing for three years. Turns out that right around the time Mr. Beesome went missing, his family was found exsanguinated, with their throats ripped out. Jody relays the information to Sam.

"So, he's a vampire."

"Yep".

Sam thinks for a moment. "O'Neill. Isn't that where Alex was from? Where her nest was?"

"Are you saying you think Beesome could have been part of Alex's old nest? That he came here looking for her?"

"I don't know. Something still doesn't sit right."

"We've got to warn Alex." Jody says, already dialling the number. Once again, there's no answer. "Alright then, plan B" she says pulling up the tracking intel for Alex's phone. "It says she's at Braden Point."

"Isn't that the place Claire was going on about."

"It is."

"Well, then let's get going."

* * *

The first thing Sam sees when they arrive at Braden Point, is the Impala sitting empty in the parking lot. At least now they know where Dean and Claire went.

"That other car belongs to Alex's boyfriend" Jody tells him.

"So, they were all here, and now none of them are answering their phones."

They walk a bit further down the path and Jody sees a glint of metal in the grass. She walks over to it and finds a gun, two actually.

"That's Dean's" Sam says, "and that other one is the one he gave to Claire."

Jody huffs, "I still wish he had talked to me about that first."

"Not the time Jody".

"You're right" she apologizes. "There are obvious signs of a struggle here."

"And it doesn't seem like its one they won."

"So, assuming this is Beesome, where would he have taken them?"

"The school?" Sam suggests. "Its where he's been hanging out. Its where he killed the other victim."

"You're right, that's probably our best guess right now. If nothing else, we can check out his office while we're there."

* * *

Claire wakes up to find herself in an abandoned building surrounded by dead bodies. She gasps and tries to get up, only to find that she's been tied by her wrists to a metal railing. Taking a closer look around she sees Dean to one side of her and Alex on the other, both similarly restrained, and the school custodian standing over them beaming at them like a proud parent.

"Those are the bodies that went missing" she realizes out loud. They're everywhere she looks, some hanging from the ceiling, some laid out on the floor.

"Just a little take out" the custodian replies, " still waiting for trash day".

"What are we here for?" Dean asks.

"Yeah, what is this?" Alex follows.

Beesome turns to Alex then and stares daggers at her. "It's your whole life."

Henry chuckles from behind him.

"How's this for a party huh? I would have liked to invite my family, but they died a couple years ago. Do you know how?" Beesome asks, addressing Alex again, who stares at him with a puzzled expression. "Have you figured out who I am?"

"I don't know you" she states emphatically.

"You don't remember? Wow, you took my life and you don't remember. Three years ago, Nebraska. Some sleazebag was taking you home outside of a bar and I chased him off. You were so young, and I could see that you didn't want anything to do with the guy. I mean, I thought maybe some pimp was working you. I gave you a few twenties and told you I would drive you home."

Alex's expression wavers throughout his speech, going from pissed off and determined to broken and remorseful. Finally, she croaks out "I do remember you."

"Oh. Oh, good. You remember how you didn't say a word all the way there? And then they came. The whole starving pack tore into me. They drank me alive! They turned me!" Beesome lunges towards Alex until he's yelling at her mere inches from her face. "And that was when the real fun began, because I went home to tell my wife what happened, but see I was covered in blood. My own blood. Which made me crazy, starving. I lost control. I gutted her, and my boy" he says, whispering the last sentence.

Alex is crying now. "I'm so sorry. They made me."

"You could have left me outside that bar. I tried to help you. I was a good man! And you know, the only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that I would find you one day and I would make you pay."

Beesome pauses here and Henry finally speaks up. "You see Rich here was tracking you for months Alex. He's been watching you."

"What for?"

"Well, I was just going to kill you outright, but of course, you were just so miserable and alone that it would have been a mercy killing. I wanted you to be happy first. I wanted you to have something precious so that I could take it from you."

"So, he turned the most popular kid in school and sent me after you" Henry explains. "I'd build you up . . ."

"And I'd chop you right down" Beesome finishes, "piece by piece. I'd take your teacher, your boyfriend" he gestures at Claire, "your family, and then I'll feed you to my nest."

A tearful Alex looks at Henry's smirk. "Nothing? None of it was real?"

"Seriously? You were a complete freak. I mean you were an angry loner creeping around the school like some kind of trench coat mafia."

"You're going to burn in hell you sociopath" interrupts Claire.

"I could never date someone like you" Henry finishes his rant. Alex responds by spitting in his face with impressive accuracy and Beesome slaps her across the face in retaliation.

"Henry's got a real mean streak. You know, he couldn't just kill Mr. Phelps, he had to run him up a flag pole for the whole school to salute."

"Well, she saw him didn't she? You wanted her miserable."

"Yeah, but you brought a lot of cops". As Beesome talks he walks closer to where Dean and Claire are chained up. "But Henry's young. He'll learn." He reaches around and grabs Claire by the back of her shirt.

"Get off me" she yells ineffectually as he slices through the duct tape holding her to the railing, and drags her to her feet, her arms still secured behind her back.

"Those cops aren't just cops" yells Dean, panicking. "They're hunters and they know we're here. They know that you killed Phelps and they killed Alex's entire nest, just ask her.

"It's true. They're coming for you."

"Shut up!" he yells, pulling Claire forward by her hair.

"Henry" Alex addresses her former boyfriend, "the killing and the running all the time, you don't want that."

"You did this" he replies. "You did this to all of us."

"And now you are going to watch everyone you love die" Beesome agrees. He maneuvers Claire until he's holding her right in front of where Alex is chained up.

"Check your intel, you pig" sneers Claire, managing to move her head enough to snarl in her captor's ear, "Alex hates me."

Beesome lets his fangs slide out and prepares to rip out the blonde's throat.

"I-I'll help you" Alex stutters. "Let them go and I'll lure for you. You know how good I am; I kept a whole nest alive for eight years. And you can feed on me when the hunting goes dry, and it goes dry, I know."

Beesome pauses. "You know, I might take you up on that". He seems to be considering Alex's offer but then without warning snaps his head forward and fastens his teeth into the side of Claire's neck.

"No!" yells Dean, almost drowned out by Claire's scream.

* * *

Sam and Jody are creeping through the hallways of the closed down school, when they hear a shrill scream echoing from somewhere beneath them.

"Did you hear that?"

"One of the girls, we have to hurry."

Fortunately, Sam had found some maps of the school while they were investigating the custodian's office, so he knows right where to look for the entrance to the basement. He pads softly down the stairs with Jody behind him, hoping to get a drop on the vampires. As he emerges into the open area of the basement, he has time to make out Alex and Dean chained up opposite from him and Claire's body between them, slumped on the floor in a pile of blood. What he doesn't see, is the vampire standing out of sight around the corner of the doorway, ready to hit him from behind.

"Sam, look out!" Dean yells.

Sam doesn't turn around quite fast enough and soon he finds himself on the ground, machete knocked out of his hand, trying to dodge a follow-up blow from the custodian coming at him with a sledge hammer. He's dimly aware of Jody fighting another vampire off to the side. He manages to sweep the vampire's legs out from underneath of him, giving himself long enough to regain his footing and his weapon. A few strikes later, there's one less bloodsucker in the world.

Sam rushes to free Alex and his brother, and Dean immediately runs to Claire's side. He helps her up and to everyone's relief, she's woozy from blood loss, but very much alive.

Jody, meanwhile, is laying punches on the younger vampire who soon finds himself surrounded by a ring of five very pissed off humans. He spins in a circle, looking for a way out, before his gaze finally rests on Alex and he grins through his bloodied mouth. "Should have tapped that when I had the chance."

"Keep dreaming about me" Alex says before decking him. Jody takes this as her cue to end it, and brings up her machete, separating the teenage monster's head from his body.


	16. Sixteen Candles

**June**

"Claire Novak!" the emcee yells.

Claire steps forwards and begins her walk across stage. She accepts her high school diploma with one hand and shakes the hand of the principle with the other. Her 60 seconds in the spotlight over, she completes her journey across the stage and takes her seat with the Alex and the other students who have gone ahead of her, making room on the stage for the next person. She looks over to where the hoard of various guests is seated to watch their loved ones graduate and finds Jody, Dean, Sam, and Castiel all smiling at her. As much as she never expected to be here, actually graduating, what she expected even less was to have people that she cares about in the stands watching her do it.

* * *

The summer that follows is one of the best times in Claire's life. She gets a part-time job at a local café and by the end of the summer is able to afford a run down VW bug which Dean helps her fix up. Jody seems to have finally accepted that she can't talk Claire out of hunting and agrees to help her learn some investigation skills. She also spends a lot of time at the bunker getting trained in the lore by Sam and weapons by Dean.

And then of course there are the hunts. With a little more training under her belt, Claire starts to be able to go on actual hunts without having to lie about it to anyone. Sometimes she goes with Jody if anything comes up in the Sioux Falls area and sometimes she goes with the Winchesters on missions a little further afield. There are a few missteps along the way. On one of her early ghost hunts she panics when she hears something coming around the corner and empties nearly an entire canister of salt on poor Sam, even getting some in one of his eyes. It takes him twenty minutes to flush it out completely and a lot longer for Dean to stop laughing at both of them. She's lucky that it's a fairly slow year for hunting, not a lot of demon activity, no impending apocalypses on the horizon, and this, along with some excellent teachers, allows her to really flourish as a new hunter.

 **October**

On one of the last warm evenings in fall, Claire is at a drive-in theatre with Dean, curled up on the seat of the Impala, only partially watching the cheesy 80's horror movie playing out on screen. One of these days she's going to have to put her foot down and insist they go somewhere on a date that doesn't involve the other woman, Dean's car, but really, she's just happy that occasionally they get to do something together that doesn't involve killing something.

Some poor girl has just been hacked up with a sword when the scene fades out and the word intermission appears on screen.

"An intermission? They really are trying to hit all the nostalgia points aren't they?" Claire complains.

"They just want people to spend more money at concession."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Alex is doing really well so far in nursing school" she says, changing the topic. "It's a little annoying though because Jody keeps dropping all these completely unsubtle hints about how she wants me to be in university too."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Sam was pretty disappointed last year when I dropped out of school", he laughs, "again."

"She told me that she wants me to do something with my life, but she doesn't realize that I'm already doing exactly what I want. And it's not like I'm not getting an education; I swear if Sam tries to make me read one more obscure religious text or encyclopedia of eastern mythology I'm going to explode."

"Well, he can't be that much of a task master, he gave you the night off after all."

"It is nice to have some time off, just make sure you bring me in if anything comes up."

"I wouldn't dream of leaving out our star hunter. We'd be lost without you."

She punches him lightly in the arm. "Hey, a little less sarcasm next time."

He laughs, "sure thing. Seriously though, its been slow for the last couple of weeks. Sam's investigating the disappearance of some guy from prison, but there's not enough to act on yet."

"Well, keep me in the loop."

"Yes, ma'am" he mock salutes her before pulling her in for a kiss.

Before Dean, Claire had never really gotten the appeal of kissing, during her previous few short-lived relationships she had always just put up with it as something that was expected. "How are you so good at that?" she asks, knowing that she's just stroking his ego.

"Lots of experience. I guess that's the benefit of dating older men, Claire."

She punches him on the arm again and snuggles in closer to him as the movie restarts.

 **January**

The Winchesters aren't usually big on celebrating birthdays, there's always some crisis keeping them busy. Typically, the other brother will buy the one celebrating a beer or two, maybe a lap dance, they'll toast, and they'll move on. This year however, there's a woman in Dean's life, and since women are usually better at marking special occasions, his birthday is given considerable more notice than usual.

Claire makes the drive over, a cake made by Jody nestled in her passenger seat. Jody got caught up in an investigation and couldn't come herself, so it's just the four of them: Sam, Dean, Castiel, and Claire. Castiel has known about Claire and Dean's relationship for months and when asked by Dean if he was okay with it, he simply looked puzzled and asked why they thought that two people he cared about being happy wouldn't be okay with him.

Sam temporarily lifts the one beer per night limit that he usually attempts to enforce on his brother and restrains himself to only one warning about the dangers of overindulging. "Just take it easy Dean, you won't have the tolerance you used to." He lightens up quickly after that and leads them in a toast, "congratulations on your second 16th birthday, big brother", they clink bottles and even Cas takes a polite sip of his mostly untouched beer.

"So, how do you know he's 16?" Claire asks.

"We don't really know for sure", Sam explains. "When the spell first hit about a year and a half ago, I figured he looked about 14. He's had two birthdays since then so we're calling it 16."

"I'm 37" Dean grumbles into his beer. Sam ignores him.

* * *

Dean has just gotten into bed and is about to turn out his light when he hears the creak of someone opening his door.

"Claire? What is it?"

"I haven't given you your birthday present yet."

His forehead crinkles in confusion that turns to surprised understanding as Claire walks boldly towards his bed, lifting her shirt above her head as she does.

"You know, I'm starting to think that all your talk about experience really is just talk."

"Claire . . ."

"What?" she said climbing up on top of him. "I'm an adult. You're sort of an adult. What's the problem?"

"Shouldn't we, I don't know, talk to Cas first or something?" he attempts weakly.

She snorts at him. "I knew you were old, but I didn't think you were 1800's old. We don't need anyone's permission and he is not my father."

"I meant as more of a courtesy" he mumbles, but Claire is straddling him now and he's quickly running out of reasons to say no.

* * *

Claire walks to breakfast the next morning with Dean at her side and a happy glow surrounding her. Nothing can spoil her good mood right now, not even the slimiest, grossest monster. When she enters, the kitchen however, she finds Sam and Castiel in the middle of what appears to be a very tense conversation.

"What's going on?" Dean asks, also picking up on the grim mood.

Cas looks at him with his uniquely pitying and forbidding stare. "Dean, Cain has resurfaced, and he needs to be stopped."


	17. Blade Runner

"What do you mean Cain is back?" asks Dean.

"Do you remember a few months ago, when I was looking into that serial killer, Tommy Tolliver, who disappeared from prison?" Sam asks.

"Yeah, you said there wasn't enough to call a hunt for."

"There wasn't. But then a few weeks later, this kid in Ohio disappears and when I looked into it, I found out that he was the son of the first guy. I did some more digging and it turns out anyone related to him is missing presumed dead."

"So, someone really had it out for the guy. Maybe someone who knew one of his victims put some kind of curse on him?"

"It's not just that one family. For the past two years, people have been going missing all over the country. It stayed off our radar for so long because none of the bodies have ever been found and there are rarely any signs of violence."

"So, what's the connection?" Dean asks.

"I couldn't figure it out at first. An entire family would be targeted except for relatives who weren't biologically related, people who married into the family, kids who were adopted, they would be skipped over, but the families being chosen seemed completely random. It was Cas who clued me in."

They all turn to look at the angel, who is leaning wearily against the kitchen counter. "All of the victims are descendants of Cain" he tells them.

"But that doesn't actually tell us that this is Cain, right?" Claire asks.

"It didn't. But I have some contacts I've been speaking with, one of them is a demon, and last night he finally got back to me and confirmed that this is Cain's work. Apparently, Crowley has become quite nervous knowing that another Knight of Hell is active again." Castiel gives a brief smile at the thought Crowley's discomfort, but it fades quickly.

"If you've been investigating this for months, then why am I just hearing about this now?" Dean challenges them.

"We were hoping we were wrong" Sam answers.

Dean nods. He's not happy about it but he can certainly understand the idea of trying to protect someone by keeping things from them, and now is not the time for an argument.

"So, what now? How do we kill this guy?" asks Claire.

All three of them look at her sadly. "I'm not sure we can. Cain is a demon and he has the mark, that makes him pretty unkillable."

"The same mark that you used to have?"

"Yeah."

"Which is why we're going to trap him instead" says Sam.

"Sam" Dean says wearily, with the tone of someone talking to a small child who won't stop begging for ice cream.

"No, Dean. I'm serious. We hit him with a devil's trap bullet, hack him into pieces, and bury him under cement. It worked on one Knight of Hell, it will work on him."

"Abaddon got out. And he's more powerful than she was. You know what we have to do here, Sam."

"She only got out because we let her out, and we're not going to make that mistake again. This can work, Dean."

"Stop trying to avoid the obvious solution, Sam."

"That's not a solution, that's just creating another problem."

Dean glances over at Claire, then down at his arm, and sighs. "You're right."

Claire hadn't completely understood the preceding conversation, but she recognizes that some kind of agreement has been reached. "Okay, so we're going to trap this Cain guy. We'll need to find him first."

"Actually, that's the easy part. There's a spell that Crowley and I used to find him the first time, we can use it again. Cas, we'll need your help getting some of the ingredients. Think you can find us some essence of Kraken?"

"I should be able to procure some, yes."

"Great, you do that. Sam and I will work on the plan to trap Cain; its not going to be as easy as walking up and shooting the guy."

Sam looks thoughtful for a moment, "I found this thing in one of our storage rooms the other day that might be able to help. It's called the Rune of Amaranth, I'll go see if I can find it again."

Cas and Sam both exit to see to their respective missions and Dean and Claire look at each other. "So, what's my job then boss?" she asks, pleading in her mind for him not to tell her that this will be too dangerous or some bullshit.

Dean sighs. "I won't lie to you Claire, this is going to be dangerous. You've never faced a demon before, and Cain would be a hell of an initiation for anyone. Part of me wants to tell you to stay out of it, stay safe, but I know that that's not who you are. If it was, I wouldn't love you so much."

Claire's eyes widen in surprise. Neither of them has ever come anywhere close to saying the L word before and the old part of her, the scared kid afraid of attachment, is kind of freaked out. The rest of her though, is pretty darn happy. "I love you too and we're going to do this together."

* * *

 **Eleven days later**

Cain digs, the smell of fresh earth and fresh corpse strong in the air as he works to fill in the latest grave in his makeshift cemetery. He's not so absorbed in his task however, that he doesn't notice a flicker of movement at the edge of the clearing. He looks up and sees Dean Winchester standing at the border of forest and burial ground. He's glares across at Cain, the first blade gripped in his hand and the mark burning red on his forearm.

"I knew you would come eventually. I knew you would bring it to me" says the demon. Dean's only response is to turn and take off running into the trees. The blade calls to him and Cain follows. A few hundred meters into the woods Dean finally skids to a halt and stops right in front of him. "Didn't want to fight me in a graveyard, hey? Don't like the reminder of what we are?" as he speaks, he draws his long steel knife from its sheath at his side. It's a poor replacement for his true weapon but it'll do for a little while longer. He moves forward and plunges the blade through Dean's chest.

* * *

 **15 minutes earlier**

The Impala pulls up to the edge of the forest that the tracking spell has led them to and everyone gathers their gear to get out of the car. Claire watches as Dean shoves a metal box further under the seat, trying to hide it from Sam. She knows what that box contains, and she knows why he had to bring it, but she hopes with all her soul that they won't need it.

They find an appropriate spot in the woods and Dean gets to work carving a devil's trap into the soil as Claire follows along behind him, disguising it with leaves and branches. Nearby, Sam and Cas prepare the illusion spell that they'll use to lure in Cain. A few moments and some chanting later, and the adult version of Dean is standing in front of them. He's literally larger than life compared to his living equivalent and Claire studies his face, looking for traces of the boy she's come to know so well. He's taller, grimmer, and his face sports stubble and more lines than she's used to. He's both familiar and alien in a way that makes him eerie to look at. She's pulled away from the moment as she feels Dean, the real one, find her hand and squeeze it. With everything now in place, Sam mutters commands in some dead language and the illusory Dean starts walking through the woods in the direction of Cain.

The four hunters move off a few feet, out of sight, and after a short wait, they watch as adult Dean runs for the centre of the trap, Cain right behind him. They both come to a stop and teenage Dean holds his breath as he watches himself get stabbed through the chest by Cain. There's a puff of purple smoke as the illusion disappears, giving them the cue they were all waiting for. "Now!" yells Dean, and they emerge from the trees, guns trained on their target.


	18. Big

They don't give Cain any time to recover before opening fire. Sam, Dean, and Claire each have a gun loaded with devil's trap bullets that they've spent the last week carving and Cain's body jerks as he's hit from multiple angles. His body bends as he's forced to lean with his hand on his knee, but he doesn't fall. "The Key of Solomon will not hold me for long, on a bullet or on the ground." He slowly straightens himself, apparently able to overcome the immobilizing effects of the devil's trap bullets, although it is clearly costing him some effort. He analyzes them with his steely grey eyes. "Well, who have we here: the angel, the little brother and a couple of kids. Where's Dean?"

"I'm right here, asshole" Dean barks at him and the eyes move to focus on him before widening in surprise.

"You found a way to escape the curse. At least temporarily." Cain's hand moves slowly to his torso, underneath his blood-soaked shirt, and fishes around like a kid in a bowl of candy. A moment later, the hand emerges and drops a used bullet to the ground before going back for another. "Did you consider Dean, that if you kill me, as you obviously intend to do, you'll be sealing your own fate. The Mark must always have a bearer, you see. And if I am gone, it will come upon you with a force no mere de-aging spell will be able to stop."

Dean can practically sense Sam's big brain grinding away in response to this, trying to figure out if Cain is bluffing or not. Cain pulls free another bullet and drops it. "If you leave now, I won't even come after you. You can go live out your life. Just give me the blade and leave me to my work." Another bullet falls to the ground.

"The blade isn't here. Crowley has it" says Sam, knowing perfectly well the second part isn't true but thinking the first part is.

"Oh, its here alright, isn't it Dean? You should have known I would be able to sense it." Dean ignores the frightened glare that Sam sends his way and watches another bloody bullet land somewhere amidst the loam. The second it lands, Cain springs forward like the demon he is, stopping right in front of Dean at the edge of the devil's trap they carved into the earth. "Are you afraid to fight me, boy? Why are you hiding behind these fools and behind that pretty, young face? If you came here to kill me, then you're going to have to start taking this seriously. Otherwise, leave now."

Sam takes this moment to fire off another round into Cain's side, but the demon shows even less reaction to it than before. Cas finally makes his move and shoves Dean out of the way as his angel blade arcs gracefully into Cain's chest and out again. Cain looks down at the slowly bleeding wound and laughs. "There is only one weapon that can kill me Castiel, and this isn't it." He strikes Cas in the sternum with the heel of his palm and sends the angel flying backwards.

"We need to retreat back to the car!" Dean grabs his brother's wrist and yanks on it. Making sure the others are following, he sprints for where they parked the Impala. Cain watches them go, contained for the moment by the larger trap almost hidden beneath dead leaves. The four of them make it back to the car and Dean immediately starts digging under the seat for something.

"Dean what are you doing?" Sam asks.

"You heard him. I'm getting the one weapon that can kill him."

"You weren't even supposed to bring that."

"Well, it's a damn good thing I did. We tried it your way Sam, and it didn't work."

"There has to be another way to deal with this. Maybe if we got the colt back. I just need time to do more research . . ."

"We don't have time, Sam" Dean interrupts. He's got the metal box out now and is unlocking it. "It's not like I want to do this, okay? But we've got a pissed off immortal demon on our hands who is going to kill us all and the only way we've got even a chance of stopping him, is if I use the blade." Dean reaches into the box and pulls out a grimy piece of cloth tied with a string. He looks over at Claire. "I'm sorry" he says.

They talked about this, in the days leading up to the mission. They didn't want it to happen but they both knew it was a possibility. Sometime, in the future, if they make it out of this alive, Claire knows she'll probably cry. Once they're safe, she'll be able to allow herself to break down and think about what she's losing, and what Dean is sacrificing, but for now, she sets it aside and gives him a firm nod.

Dean gives the innocuous looking little bag a squeeze, there's a puff of smoke that smells faintly like flowers and all of a suddenly he looks twenty years older than he did a few seconds ago. Dean wrestles off his now too small jacket that was squeezing him around the shoulders and an angry red mark comes into view. When he reaches back into the box and pulls out the first blade, the mark flares like metal placed in fire and Sam and Cas look at him worriedly.

"It's okay. I'm in control" he says, noticing their concern. "Now let's go gank the bastard."


	19. Die Hard

"Maybe you guys should stay here" Dean says as they trudge through the woods back towards where Cain is trapped.

"And let you go off on some macho suicide mission by yourself? That's just stupid." Claire frowns up at him, unused to having to crane her neck so much to do so.

He gives her a weak smile in return as they enter the clearing and Cain comes into view.

He sees them at the same time. "Ah, now that's better. I'm glad to see you're done with the childish tricks, Dean. How's it feel, holding the blade again?"

Dean raises the blade a little, examining it. "It feels like a means to an end." He slowly steps into the devil's trap.

"Then do it" Cain challenges him, as Dean slowly closes the distance between them. For all her talk of not letting him do this alone, Claire is wise enough to stay outside the circle, her gun trained on the demon. When he's a few steps away, Dean thrusts forwards with the blade. The blow is powerful but well telegraphed and Cain ducks it easily. He dodges and weaves like a boxer as Dean comes after him, blade slicing through the air. Cain catches Dean's arm on the next attack and uses his demonic strength to send the hunter sliding back through the leaves.

Dean gets to his feet again as Cain stands there patiently waiting for him, like a vaguely disappointed instructor. Dean attacks again with the same result and when he gets back up this time, he's starting to breathe heavily. This time when Dean attacks, Cain retaliates with his fists. He doesn't reach for his knife again but he's still beating on him brutally. When Dean does manage to get a punch in, he barely seems bothered by it. "That seems a bit weaker than I would expect from you with the blade. I think you can do better." Dean punches him again. "Unless," Cain points at him accusingly, "you're holding back."

Dean rushes in again and this time Cain catches his fists and holding him by both arms pushes back at him so that Dean's feet skid across the grass. "What is it Dean? Do you think that if you hold back just enough you won't succumb? That you'll be able to leave here the same as you came?" Cain throws Dean yet again and he lands painfully on his back. "Look to my example, boy! There is no resisting the mark or the blade. There is only remission and relapse."

He moves to where Dean is still lying on the ground but is stopped when multiple bullets impact his chest. Cain looks to where the others are waiting outside the circle. "What? Aren't any of the rest of you brave enough to join us in the ring?"

In response to his taunts, Castiel surges forward, plants his palm on Cain's forehead, and a blazing white light emits from his hand. A fiery glow briefly flickers from behind Cain's eyes but otherwise he shows little response. "You cannot smite me like some common demon" he says and throws Cas to the ground as easily as he did Dean.

Dean coughs weakly and struggles to his feet. "You told me that this day would come. You told me that I would have to kill you."

"Is that so?" Cain asks mockingly. He raises his hand, apparently deciding to finally go on the offensive, and sends Dean flying using his telekinesis, something that shouldn't be possible while inside a devil's trap. "I'm afraid you've misunderstood my intentions here, Dean. If I really wanted to, I could have found a way to hide myself from that little tracking spell, but I knew eventually you would seek me out." Dean scans the forest floor for the first blade, that latest throw having knocked it out of his hand. "Your biggest weakness, the thing I noticed the moment I met you" Cain continues, "your courage, your reckless bravado. I knew it would lead you to bring into battle the one thing that can kill me, even knowing it's the one thing I truly want."

Dean spots the blade lying a couple of feet away inside the circle and lunges for it, but before his fingers can make contact, Cain uses his powers to pull the blade away and catches it under his boot. He bends down to pick it up and Dean sees the same fiery glow light up Cain's veins as lit up his earlier. Cain sighs almost lovingly, "Oh, its been too long. That old feeling makes me wonder how I ever had the strength to resist." He grips Dean around the neck, chocking him, and lifts him off the ground. "This may be hard to believe in light of what I'm about to do to you, but I care about you, Dean." He tightens his grip and Dean's eyes begin to lose focus. "I truly do. I'm doing you a favour, I'm saving you."

"Saving me from what?" Dean manages to croak out.

"From your fate. Has it never occurred to you? Have you never mused upon the fact that you're living my life in reverse? My story began when I killed my brother, and that's where your story inevitably will end."

"That's never going to happen" Sam speaks up, "Dean isn't like you."

"It's called the Mark of Cain for a reason!" Cain yells at him. He releases his grip on Dean's throat, but with his legs too weak to support him, Dean slides to the ground and Cain holds him there with a boot over his sternum. "First you'd kill the Angel. It'd hurt something awful, but maybe you'd find a way to justify it to yourself. After all, he isn't human, and he's betrayed you before. Then you'd kill the blonde over there and maybe start to realize how far off the reservation you really are. And then, you'd commit the murder you'd never survive." He crouches over Dean, holding the blade to his throat. The others try to run to his rescue, but Cain sends them flying with a mere flick of his hand, not even looking up. "The one that would finally turn you into as much of a savage as it did me."

"No" Dean states emphatically, looking around him for a weapon.

"Your brother, Sam. The only thing standing between you and that destiny, is this blade. You're welcome, my son." Cain raises the blade up and as he brings it down again, Dean grabs the steel hunting knife sheathed at Cain's side and strikes at the arm about to strike at him. Cain's right hand separates cleanly from his arm and he grabs at the stump with an expression of shock. Dean retrieves the first blade and meets Cain's eyes, looking sorrowful. "What's the matter?" the demon asks as blood gushes from where his right hand used to be.

"Tell me that I don't have to do this" Dean asks desperately. "Tell me that you'll stop. Tell me that you can stop."

Cain's expression is hard and resigned. "I will never stop."

The blade pulses in Dean's fist as he walks around behind where Cain is kneeling. Adam and Eve's oldest son bows his head, his long hair hanging down to cover his face, and Dean brings the blade down on the back of his neck. The jagged teeth cleave through the flesh of their former wielder and his body falls to the ground.

Dean looks up and sees his family walking over to him. He knows that they heard what Cain was saying and as much as his mind protests that it isn't true, he finds it hard to look them in they eye. Claire takes a hold of the hand not gripping the blade and he resists the urge to rip it away and warn her to back off. Instead he looks at Cas and holds the blade out to him, handle first. Castiel takes it without words. Sam pulls him into a hug and he almost collapses against him. "You did it, Dean. You did it."


	20. The Neverending Story

As they make their weary way back to the Impala, Dean is glad for the comfort of Claire's hand in his. Still, he knows that there's no avoiding the inevitable. "We need to talk" he says looking down at her.

"We do" she agrees, "but not until tomorrow. I'm tired Dean, and you look like you could collapse at any second. It can wait until tomorrow." The conversation may be inevitable, but Dean is relieved to have it postponed at least a little while longer.

It's a testament to how much the fight wore him out that Dean doesn't even protest when Sam gets behind the wheel of the Impala.

* * *

The next morning, Dean raises his mug and noisily slurps at his coffee, not looking up as Sam casts worried glance his way. Sam gathers himself to talk and picks his words carefully. "You know, what you did back there, it was incredible. If you can do that, without losing yourself, that's cause for hope. Even with the mark back."

"Yeah, maybe" Dean says noncommittally. Cas walks in that Dean looks up at him. "So, where's the blade?"

"Somewhere safe."

"Good. Well, if you guys will excuse me" he says as he leaves the kitchen. Sam and Cas share an uncomfortable glance; they both know that he's going to talk to Claire.

Dean follows the sound of muffled gunfire to the bunker's shooting range and finds Claire getting in some morning practice. He watches her from the doorway for a few moments, proud of how far she's come. Her stance is perfect, her aim is good, there's just one thing slightly off.

"You're still hesitating" he says, speaking loudly so that she can hear him around her ear protection. She turns around, startled, and lowers the earmuffs down to her neck. "Between the first and second shot. You're waiting too long. A lot of supernatural creatures aren't going to be dropped by a single bullet; you should always double tap."

There's probably an inappropriate joke in there somewhere, but neither of them is in the mood to make it. Instead Claire turns around without speaking and fires off two shots in rapid succession.

"Better" Dean says.

She turns back to him. "So, is this the part of the movie where the action hero is tragically forced to break up with his girlfriend in order to protect her from some sinister evil? You know, like in Batman or something."

"As much as I hate to argue with the classics, that's not how it goes in every version. In the Nolan movies, his girlfriend dumps him."

She laughs at him. "See, I knew you'd seen the newer ones. You're not nearly as much of an old man as you pretend to be."

He takes a more serious tone now. "Claire, you know that this has to end. It's not just the age difference, though that's part of it. With the mark back, I'm not safe to be around."

"I understand, I do. I hate it but I understand. Just don't expect me to start bawling and begging like some B list actress."

"Of course not."

She gives him a tight, brief hug, and when she breaks away, her eyes are suspiciously watery.

"Okay, so I might cry a little."

* * *

Claire leaves that afternoon. Sam, Dean, and Castiel all gather outside to see her off, just like they did after the incident with the Grigori.

"So, are you heading back to Jody's, Claire?" Sam asks trying to break the solemnity of the moment.

"No. I think between you guys and Jody, the Midwest has enough of a hunter presence. I need a new start and it's time I get out on my own. I thought maybe I'd drive for the coast, and just see what happens."

"Claire, if you ever need us . . ." Dean starts.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll call." She hesitates and then appears to make up her mind about something. "You know Dean, sometimes movies have sequels."

"Sometimes" he reluctantly agrees.

"Sometimes, they don't even suck."

After Claire has driven away, Dean spends almost an hour watching the road where she disappeared before heading back inside.

End.


End file.
